Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 759 § 759.425 — Universal service fund; transfer of moneys to Broadband Fund; commission to

Universal service fund; transfer of moneys to Broadband Fund; commission to establish price for basic telephone service; universal service surcharge; application to cellular services; rules. (1)(a) The Public Utility Commission shall establish and implement a competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory universal service fund. The commission shall: (A) Use the universal service fund to ensure basic telephone service is available at a reasonable and affordable rate; and (B) Transfer from the universal service fund to the Oregon Business Development Department for deposit in the Broadband Fund established under ORS 285A.167, an amount per year that is equal to the lesser of: (i) $5 million; or (ii) The remainder of moneys deposited in the universal service fund that are unobligated after making the designation required in paragraph (b) of this subsection. (b) The commission shall designate the amount of moneys deposited annually in the universal service fund to be used to ensure basic telephone service. The amount designated under this paragraph may not exceed $28 million per year. (c) The commission may: (A) Adopt rules to conform the universal service fund to section 254 of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-104), and to related regulations adopted by the Federal Communications Commission, to the extent that the Public Utility Commission determines conforming the rules is appropriate; and (B) In addition to using the universal service fund to ensure basic telephone service, use the universal service fund to encourage broadband service availability and to provide support to telecommunications carriers that provide both basic telephone service and broadband service. (2)(a) The commission shall establish the price a telecommunications utility may charge its customers for basic telephone service. The commission shall periodically review and evaluate the status of telecommunications services in the state and designate the services included in basic telephone service. The commission shall periodically review and adjust as necessary the price a telecommunications utility may charge for basic telephone service. (b) The provisions of this subsection do not apply to the basic telephone service provided by a telecommunications utility described in ORS 759.040. (3)(a) The commission shall establish a benchmark for basic telephone service as necessary for the administration and distribution of the universal service fund. The universal service fund shall provide explicit support to an eligible telecommunications carrier that is equal to the difference between the cost of providing basic telephone service and the benchmark, less any explicit compensation received by the telecommunications carrier from federal sources specifically used to recover local loop costs and less any explicit support received by the telecommunications carrier from a federal universal service program. (b) The commission shall periodically review the benchmark established under paragraph (a) of this subsection and adjust the benchmark as necessary to reflect: (A) Changes in competition in the telecommunications industry; (B) Changes in federal universal service support; and (C) Other relevant factors as determined by the commission. (c) Except for a telecommunications utility described in ORS 759.040, the commission shall seek to limit the difference between the price a telecommunications utility may charge for basic telephone service and the benchmark. (4)(a) There is imposed a universal service surcharge on the sale in this state of all: (A) Retail telecommunications services; (B) Retail commercial mobile radio services; and (C) Retail interconnected voice over internet protocol services. (b) A retail commercial mobile radio service provider shall identify the intrastate revenues subject to the universal service surcharge based on the inverse of the percentage of interstate revenues utilized for purposes of federal universal service contributions or based on any other method approved by the Public Utility Commission. A retail commercial mobile radio service provider may rely upon the sourcing rules set forth in the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act (P.L. 106-252) to identify revenues attributable to Oregon. (c) A retail interconnected voice over internet protocol service provider may identify, in accordance with federal guidelines, the intrastate revenues subject to the universal service surcharge based on any one of the following: (A) The inverse of the interstate safe harbor percentage established by the Federal Communications Commission for interconnected voice over internet protocol service for federal universal service contribution purposes, as the interstate safe harbor percentage may be revised from time to time; (B) A traffic study specific to the interconnected voice over internet protocol service provider that allocates revenues between federal an