News
The chairwoman of the FCC has responded to a recent court ruling that declared the Universal Service Fund as unconstitutional.
By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities
Jessica Rosenworcel, the chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, has responded to a recent court ruling that declared the Universal Service fund unconstitutional.
“This decision is misguided and wrong,” Rosenworcel said, referring to a recent July 24 decision from the Fifth Circuit Court in New Orleans.
The 9-7 decision, by the full panel of judges in the circuit, is contrary to that court’s ruling by a three-judge panel, along with earlier ones in the sixth and eleventh circuits, both of which upheld the USF.
Rosenworcel said the decision throws many Federal Communications Commission (FCC) programs into jeopardy.
“It upends decades of bipartisan support for FCC programs that help communications reach the most rural and least-connected households in our country, as well as hospitals, schools, and libraries nationwide,” Rosenworcel said in comments released to the media late last week.
Rosenworcel said the FCC “will pursue all available avenues for review.”
“The opinion reflects a lack of understanding of the statutory scheme that helped create the world’s best and most far-reaching communications network,” Rosenworcel said.
The fund in question is subsidized through fees paid by telecommunications carriers and supports programs like the High-Cost Program, the Connect America Fund, the Lifeline Program, the Rural Health Care Program, and the Schools and Libraries Program.
The Universal Service Fund, which was expanded by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, funds E-Rate, allows rural health care providers to pay rates for telecommunications services similar to those in urban areas, assists low-income customers with telecommunications affordability, and provides support to certain qualifying telephone companies that serve high-cost areas, according to the FCC’s website.
The fund in question is subsidized through fees paid by telecommunications carriers and supports programs like the High-Cost Program, the Connect America Fund, the Lifeline Program, the Rural Health Care Program, and the Schools and Libraries Program.
Last week, the New Orleans court ruled that “Congress delegated its taxing power to the Federal Communications Commission” in the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
“(The) FCC then subdelegated the taxing power to a private corporation (the Universal Service Administrative Company),” the circuit court’s ruling read. “That private corporation, in turn, relied on for-profit telecommunications companies to determine how much American citizens would be forced to pay for the ‘universal service’ tax that appears on cell phone bills across the nation. We hold this misbegotten tax violates Article I, § 1 of the Constitution.”
To get content like this delivered to your inbox, subscribe to the Broadband Communities newsletter.
