AN ACT RELATIVE TO FUNDING FOR CERTAIN TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMS WITHIN THE COMMONWEALTH.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Chapter 6A of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 18G the following section:-
Section 18H. The department of telecommunications and energy shall promulgate rules providing for the recovery by telecommunications companies of expenses that have been, are, or will be, until December 31, 2007, incurred that are associated with the services pursuant to sections 18A to 18F, inclusive, of this chapter and sections 14A and 15E of chapter 166. With respect to any deficit incurred by the telephone companies before the effective date of this section, the department of telecommunications and energy shall determine the portion of directory assistance revenues that will be used to offset that deficit, including any interest the department may determine should be applied. The rules shall provide for the funding of the prudently incurred expenses by means of a charge on each voice grade exchange telephone line of business and residence customers within the commonwealth; but the surcharge applicable to centrex service shall be based on an equivalency provided to each private branch exchange trunk. In the development of the charge, all telephone companies shall submit to the department historical data verifying their participation in the statutory funding mechanism. The department of telecommunications and energy shall annually report to the general court concerning the financial condition of the fund and shall address in the report the reasonableness of the capital expenditures and related expenses of the statewide emergency telecommunications board incurred in complying with chapter 166, sections 14A and 15E.
SECTION 2. Section 7 of chapter 291 of the acts of 1990 is hereby repealed.
SECTION 3. The department of telecommunications and energy shall develop a long term plan for funding enhanced 911 services; the department shall consider, among any and all the issues affecting the enhanced 911 system, (1) equitable payment of the costs of the system by all its beneficiaries and, (2) the changes and projected changes in technology comprising the enhanced 911 system. The department shall submit its recommendations and assessments to the committee on government regulations no later than December 31, 2006.