[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2476 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  2d Session
                                S. 2476

   To amend the Communications Act of 1934 in order to prohibit any 
  regulatory impediments to completely and accurately fulfilling the 
  sufficiency of support mandates of the national statutory policy of 
               universal service, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 27, 2000

    Mr. Burns (for himself, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Baucus) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Communications Act of 1934 in order to prohibit any 
  regulatory impediments to completely and accurately fulfilling the 
  sufficiency of support mandates of the national statutory policy of 
               universal service, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Universal Service Support Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934.

    (a) In General.--Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:
    ``(l) Removal of the Interim Cap on the Size of the Universal 
Service Fund.--After the date of enactment of the Universal Service 
Support Act, the Commission may not enforce section 36.601(c) of its 
regulations (47 C.F.R. 36.601(c)), nor promulgate a rule or regulation 
that is substantially the same as or similar in effect to that section.
    ``(m) Removal of Universal Service Caps on Individual Carriers.--
After the date of enactment of the Universal Service Support Act, the 
Commission may not--
            ``(1) enforce individual caps imposed on carriers by 
        Commission orders entered in connection with requests, received 
        before the date of enactment of that Act, for study area 
        waivers; or
            ``(2) impose any new cap that would limit the per-loop 
        support calculated under section 36.631 of its regulations (47 
        C.F.R. 36.631).
    ``(n) Per-Loop Support Calculation.-- In calculating per-loop 
support, the Commission shall comply with section 36.631 of its 
regulations (47 C.F.R. 36.631) as that section was in effect on the 
date of the enactment of the Universal Service Support Act.''.
    (b) High Cost Loop Support Calculation.-- The Federal 
Communications Commission shall--
            (1) calculate that portion of the high cost support 
        mechanism attributable to loops that have costs that are in 
        excess of 115 percent of the nationwide average under section 
        36.631 of the Commission's regulations (47 C.F.R. 36.631); and
            (2) calculate the nationwide average for such purposes 
        under sections 36.621 and 36.622 of those regulations (47 
        C.F.R. 36.621 and 36.622) as they were in effect on the date of 
        enactment of this Act.
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