HB3822ham002 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Brandon W. Phelps

Filed: 4/20/2015

09900HB3822ham002 LRB099 09161 AMC 34311 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 3822

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 3822, AS AMENDED, by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The State Finance Act is amended by adding Section 5.866 as follows:

(30 ILCS 105/5.866 new)

Sec. 5.866. The Illinois Telecommunications Access Corporation Fund.

Section 10. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing Section 13-703 as follows:

(220 ILCS 5/13-703) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-703)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2015)

Sec. 13-703. (a) The Commission shall design and implement a program whereby each telecommunications carrier providing local exchange service shall provide a telecommunications device capable of servicing the needs of those persons with a hearing or speech disability together with a single party line, at no charge additional to the basic exchange rate, to any subscriber who is certified as having a hearing or speech disability by a licensed physician, speech-language pathologist, audiologist or a qualified State agency and to any subscriber which is an organization serving the needs of those persons with a hearing or speech disability as determined and specified by the Commission pursuant to subsection (d).

(b) The Commission shall design and implement a program, whereby each telecommunications carrier providing local exchange service shall provide a telecommunications relay system, using third party intervention to connect those persons having a hearing or speech disability with persons of normal hearing by way of intercommunications devices and the telephone system, making available reasonable access to all phases of public telephone service to persons who have a hearing or speech disability. In order to design a telecommunications relay system which will meet the requirements of those persons with a hearing or speech disability available at a reasonable cost, the Commission shall initiate an investigation and conduct public hearings to determine the most cost-effective method of providing telecommunications relay service to those persons who have a hearing or speech disability when using telecommunications devices and therein solicit the advice, counsel, and physical assistance of Statewide nonprofit consumer organizations that serve persons with hearing or speech disabilities in such hearings and during the development and implementation of the system. The Commission shall phase in this program, on a geographical basis, as soon as is practicable, but no later than June 30, 1990.

(c) The Commission shall establish a competitively neutral rate recovery mechanism that establishes , authorizing charges in an amount to be determined by the Commission for each line of a subscriber to allow telecommunications carriers providing local exchange service to recover costs as they are incurred under this Section.

(d) The Commission shall determine and specify those organizations serving the needs of those persons having a hearing or speech disability that shall receive a telecommunications device and in which offices the equipment shall be installed in the case of an organization having more than one office. For the purposes of this Section, "organizations serving the needs of those persons with hearing or speech disabilities" means centers for independent living as described in Section 12a of the Disabled Persons Rehabilitation Act and not-for-profit organizations whose primary purpose is serving the needs of those persons with hearing or speech disabilities. The Commission shall direct the telecommunications carriers subject to its jurisdiction and this Section to comply with its determinations and specifications in this regard.

(e) As used in this Section:

"Prepaid wireless telecommunications service" has the meaning set forth in Section 10 of the Prepaid Wireless 9-1-1 Surcharge Act.

"Retail transaction" has the meaning set forth in Section 10 of the Prepaid Wireless 9-1-1 Surcharge Act.

"Telecommunications , the phrase "telecommunications carrier providing local exchange service" includes, without otherwise limiting the meaning of the term, telecommunications carriers which are purely mutual concerns, having no rates or charges for services, but paying the operating expenses by assessment upon the members of such a company and no other person.

"Wireless carrier" has the meaning set forth in Section 10 of the Wireless Emergency Telephone Safety Act.

(f) Interconnected VoIP service providers, sellers of prepaid wireless telecommunications service, and wireless carriers in Illinois shall collect and remit assessments determined in accordance with this Section in a competitively neutral manner in the same manner as a telecommunications carrier providing local exchange service. However, the assessment imposed on consumers of prepaid wireless telecommunications service shall be imposed per retail transaction as a percentage of that retail transaction on all retail transactions occurring in this State. Sellers of prepaid wireless telecommunications service shall remit the assessments to the Department of Revenue on the same form and in the same manner which they remit the fee collected under the Prepaid Wireless 9-1-1 Surcharge Act. For the purposes of display on the consumers' receipts, the rates of the fee collected under the Prepaid Wireless 9-1-1 Surcharge Act and the assessment under this Section may be combined. In administration and enforcement of this Section, the provisions of Sections 15 and 20 of the Prepaid Wireless 9-1-1 Surcharge Act (except subsections (a), (a-5), (b-5), (e), and (e-5) of Section 15 and subsections (c) and (e) of Section 20 of the Prepaid Wireless 9-1-1 Surcharge Act and, from the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 99th General Assembly, the seller shall be permitted to deduct and retain 3% of the assessments that are collected by the seller from consumers and that are remitted and timely filed with the Department) that are not inconsistent with this Section, shall apply, as far as practicable, to the subject matter of this Section to the same extent as if those provisions were included in this Section. The Department shall pay to the State Treasurer all assessments and penalties collected under this Section for deposit into the Illinois Telecommunications Access Corporation Fund, a special fund created in the State treasury. On or before the 25th day of each calendar month, the Department shall prepare and certify to the Comptroller the amount available to the Illinois Commerce Commission for distribution out of the Illinois Telecommunications Access Corporation Fund. The amount certified shall be the amount (not including credit memoranda) collected during the second preceding calendar month by the Department, plus an amount the Department determines is necessary to offset any amounts which were erroneously paid to a different taxing body or fund. The amount paid to the Illinois Telecommunications Access Corporation Fund shall not include any amount equal to the amount of refunds made during the second preceding calendar month by the Department to retailers under this Section or any amount that the Department determines is necessary to offset any amounts which were payable to a different taxing body or fund but were erroneously paid to the Illinois Telecommunications Access Corporation Fund. The Illinois Commerce Commission shall distribute all the funds to the Illinois Telecommunications Access Corporation and the funds may only be used in accordance with the provisions of this Section. The Department may deduct an amount, not to exceed 2%, during every year of remitted assessments to be transferred into the Tax Compliance and Administration Fund to reimburse the Department for its direct costs of administering the collection and remittance of the assessment. Interconnected VoIP services shall not be considered an intrastate telecommunications service for the purposes of this Section in a manner inconsistent with federal law or Federal Communications Commission regulation. The Illinois Commerce Commission may adopt rules necessary to implement this Section.

(g) The provisions of this Section are severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.

(Source: P.A. 96-927, eff. 6-15-10.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 2015.".