Senate sources said a potential Senate Commerce Committee markup ...
Senate sources said a potential Senate Commerce Committee markup scheduled for Sept. 22 could include Sen. Smith’s (R-Ore.) universal service fund bill (S-1380). The bill would reallocate funding in the USF’s “non-rural” fund that goes to RBOCs and other…
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large ILECs that serve rural areas. Miss. and W. Va. split the lion’s share of the $230 million yearly fund and advocates in states that receive little or none of the funding raise charges that the fund is unfairly distributed. Under Smith’s bill, which is similar to HR-1582 from Rep. Terry (R-Neb.), funding would be based on regional, not state-wide, averages, which critics say disproportionally benefits some states. Proponents of the current system said BellSouth, which receives most of the funding for Miss. and W. Va., serves more rural customers in those states, which is why the funding is so skewed to those areas. One Senate source said there have been efforts to restructure the bill so Miss. and W. Va. are “held harmless” and wouldn’t receive any loss of funding. There have been negotiations with Sens. Lott (R-Miss.) and Rockefeller (D- W. Va.), both Commerce Committee members, to achieve their support for the bill. A Senate source said the negotiations -- so far -- don’t appear to be successful and many members had questions about how Miss. and W. Va. can be kept at the same funding level while offering great shares of the fund to other states. As budget concerns loom over Congress, it seems unlikely that there will be an effort to find the funding, a Senate source said.