PART III. TELECOMMUNICATION TAX

§1061. Telecommunication tax for the deaf

A.(1) There is hereby levied a tax of five cents per month to be assessed per line for each wireline access line and per telephone number for each wireless handset device on each residential and business customer of a local or wireless telecommunication service company operating in Louisiana. The tax shall be collected from each residential and business customer and remitted by each such company on or before thirty days after the close of each calendar quarter to the secretary of the Department of Revenue on forms prescribed by the secretary. The tax provided for in this Paragraph shall not apply to wireless devices used only for data purposes or to prepaid wireless devices.

(2) The local or wireless telecommunication service company collecting and remitting such tax as hereinabove provided shall be allowed a deduction, not to exceed three percent, from the amount so collected and remitted to the secretary as compensation for such collection. The compensation shall not be allowed, however, if the remittance is not made timely.

(3) The tax so collected and remitted by the local or wireless telecommunication service company shall not be subject to any tax, fee, or assessment, nor shall it be considered revenue of the local or wireless telecommunication service company.

(4) The revenues so collected shall be remitted by the secretary immediately upon receipt to the treasurer and the treasurer shall credit the full amount of such taxes to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund. After a sufficient amount is allocated from that fund to pay all obligations secured by the full faith and credit of the state which become due and payable within any fiscal year, the treasurer shall pay the remainder of such funds into a special fund which is hereby created within the state treasury and designated as the "Telecommunications for the Deaf Fund".

B. The monies in the Telecommunications for the Deaf Fund shall be used solely to establish, administer, and promote a statewide program to provide accessibility services and assistive technology for persons who are deaf, deaf/blind, hard of hearing, speech impaired, or others with similar disabilities or impairments, including captioning and American sign language services to be utilized at the legislature, in the amounts appropriated each year by the legislature to the Louisiana Commission for the Deaf. Any surplus monies remaining to the credit of the fund on June thirtieth of each year and any funds earned through the investment of the monies in the fund shall remain to the credit of the fund.

C. Policies and procedures to administer the statewide program and distribution of funds shall be developed in collaboration with other state agencies that provide services to individuals who are deaf, deaf/blind, hard of hearing, or speech impaired to avoid duplication of effort. Rules and regulations to implement the program shall be promulgated in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act.

Acts 1988, No. 660, §2, eff. Sept. 1, 1988; Acts 1997, No. 658, §2; Acts 1997, No. 1126, §1, eff. July 1, 1997; Acts 2001, No. 1182, §7, eff. July 1, 2001; Acts 2006, No. 722, §1, eff. July 1, 2006; Acts 2014, No. 811, §25, eff. June 23, 2014; Acts 2017, No. 273, §1, eff. Oct. 1, 2017; Acts 2018, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 2, §1, eff. March 26, 2018.