|  The
Universal Service Fund (USF) is a Federal program that is designed, in part, to
assure that all Americans have access to basic telephone service, including Americans
that live in remote rural regions of the country. Funding from the USF to assure
that all rural Americans continue to have access to affordable telephone service
is supposed to be available regardless of the type of telephone company that serves
a specific rural community. Funding for the USF is included as part of the long
distance charges that every American pays. However, currently most rural regions
in the United States receive little or no USF support if they happen to be served
by one of the so-called "non-rural" carriers that serve both urban and rural areas.
Under the Federal Communications Commission's current regulations "non rural"
telephone carriers that serve rural areas in 40 states, including all but four
states (WY, MT, NE and SD) west of the Mississippi receive no "non rural" carrier
funding under the USF and are shut out of the nearly $250 million dollar non-rural
carrier program entirely. This is true even though many non-eligible states contribute
significant amounts of funding to the "non-rural carrier" portion of the USF.
For instance, California consumers contribute nearly $20 million (Texas, $13 million;
Michigan, $6 million) a year into the Federal Universal Service account for rural
areas served by mixed, urban-and-rural carriers, but they receive zero benefit
from this program.
To
fix this problem, legislation has been introduced in Congress that would establish
a fairer distribution of funding. Under S.
1380 and H.R.
1582, more than 40 states would receive assistance, without raising consumer
costs, taxes, or federal spending. For example, California and Texas's rural communities
would receive at least $12 million (Michigan, $5 million) a year for the maintenance
and improvement of rural telecom infrastructure.
A draft letter to your members of Congress has been prepared by the Coalition
for Equitable Affordable Rural Service (CLEAR Coalition), a broad-based alliance
of agricultural, rural, consumer, business and public interests groups working
to reform the USF program. The National Grange is a supporter of the CLEAR Coalition.
PLEASE
SEND A PROTEST MESSAGE TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS WITH JUST A FEW CLICKS
OF THE MOUSE! CLICK
HERE . For
more information: National
Grange Action Alert 3/04/04: Urge Congress to Fix the Universal Service Fund (USF)
for the Benefit of All Rural Americans! Letter
sent to Sen. Smith and Rep. Terry by Leroy Watson, Legislative Director of National
Grange. CLEAR
Press Release - Demands for Immediate Reform of Universal Service "Non-Rural Carrier"
Program Continue to Grow
If
you have any questions or comments please contact Legislative Research Analyst
Chil-Sook Hwang by fax: 202-347-1091
or by phone: 1-888-4GRANGE, ext 109. Thank
you for your grassroots participation in the National Grange Legislative program.
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