(a) The Public Service Commission shall establish a Universal Service Trust Fund, and determine those services which shall constitute universal service in the District of Columbia, the costs of providing universal service, and the amount of subsidy needed to maintain the Universal Service Trust Fund. Any subsidy necessary to support universal service shall be separately funded out of the Universal Service Trust Fund, and administered by a Universal Service Trust Fund administrator named by the Public Service Commission.

(b)(1) Upon an annual determination by the Public Service Commission of the amount needed to support a universal service subsidy, the PSC shall bill and collect from all local exchange carriers (“LEC”) and Voice Over Internet Protocol Service providers operating in the District at any time during the previous year an amount representing each carrier’s share of the total universal service subsidy. To the extent permitted by federal law and regulation, the determination of each LEC’s share and Voice Over Internet Protocol Service provider’s share shall be in proportion to each LEC’s and Voice Over Internet Protocol Service provider’s total revenues for local telecommunications or telecommunications services derived from end users in the District during the previous year.

(2) The Commission may exempt from the requirements of this subsection any LEC or Voice Over Internet Protocol Service provider whose share of the total universal service subsidy the Public Service Commission determines to be de minimis.

(c) There shall be no fiscal year limitation on the funds in the Universal Service Trust Fund, and any funds unspent in one fiscal year may be used to offset the amounts required to be contributed by local exchange carriers to the fund in the next fiscal year.

(d) The universal service subsidy derived from the Universal Service Trust Fund shall be available for eligible customers regardless of the local exchange carrier which the eligible customers choose to use.

(Sept. 9, 1996, D.C. Law 11-154, § 4, 43 DCR 3736; June 5, 2008, D.C. Law 17-165, § 3(b), 55 DCR 5171; Sept. 24, 2010, D.C. Law 18-223, § 2224(c), 57 DCR 6242; Sept. 14, 2011, D.C. Law 19-21, § 2083, 58 DCR 6226.)

1981 Ed., § 43-1453.

This section is referenced in § 34-2002.

D.C. Law 17-165, in subsec. (b), substituted “local exchange carriers and Voice Over Internet Protocol Service providers” for “local exchange carriers”, and substituted “LEC’s share and Voice Over Internet Protocol Service provider’s share” for “LEC’s share”.

D.C. Law 18-223, in subsec. (b), rewrote the second sentence which had read: “The determination of each LEC’s share and Voice Over Internet Protocol Service provider’s share shall be in proportion to each carrier’s total revenues for local exchange services provided in the District during the previous year.”

D.C. Law 19-21, in subsec. (b), designated the existing text as par. (1); in subsec. (b)(1), substituted “local exchange carriers (’LEC’) and Voice Over” for “local exchange carriers and Voice Over”; and added subsec. (b)(2).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2224(c) of Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2010 (D.C. Act 18-463, July 2, 2010, 57 DCR 6542).