AN ACT Relating to telephone services for low-income persons; creating new sections; and providing an expiration date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that universal telephone service is an important policy goal of the state. The legislature further finds that recent changes in the telecommunications industry, such as federal access charges, raise concerns about the ability of low-income persons to continue to afford access to local exchange telephone service. Therefore, the legislature finds that it is in the public interest to take steps to mitigate the effects of these changes on low-income persons.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Local exchange company" means a telecommunications company providing local exchange telecommunications service.

(2) "Commission" means the Washington utilities and transportation commission.

(3) "Department" means the department of social and health services.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. Lifeline assistance shall be available to participants of department programs set forth in section 8 of this act. Lifeline assistance shall consist of the following components:

(1) A discount on service connection fees of fifty percent as set forth in section 7 of this act.

(2) A waiver of deposit requirements on local exchange service, as set forth in section 7 of this act.

(3) A discounted flat rate lifeline service rate for local exchange service, which shall be subject to the following conditions:

(a) The commission shall establish a single lifeline service rate for all local exchange companies operating in the state of Washington. The lifeline service rate shall include any federal end user access charges and any other charges necessary to obtain local exchange service.

(b) The commission shall, in establishing the lifeline service rate, consider all charges for local exchange service, including federal end user access charges, mileage charges, extended area service, and any other charges necessary to obtain local exchange service.

(c) The lifeline service rate shall only be available to eligible customers subscribing to the lowest available local exchange flat rate service, where the lowest local exchange flat rate, including any federal end user access charges and any other charges necessary to obtain local exchange service, is greater than the lifeline service rate.

(d) The cost of providing the lifeline service shall be paid, to the maximum extent possible, by a waiver of all or part of the federal end user access charge and, to the extent necessary, from the lifeline fund created by section 4 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Costs associated with lifeline telephone service shall be recovered through a lifeline excise tax on all other switched access lines. The lifeline excise tax shall be applied equally to all residential and business access lines not to exceed sixteen cents per month. All money collected from the lifeline excise tax shall be deposited into a lifeline fund administered by the department. Local exchange companies shall bill the fund for their expenses incurred in offering lifeline telecommunications services, including administrative and program expenses. The department shall disburse the money to the local exchange companies. The department shall recover its administrative costs from the fund.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The commission and the department may adopt any rules necessary to implement sections 1 through 8 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Lifeline service shall be limited to one residential access line per eligible household.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Local exchange companies shall file tariffs with the commission which waive deposits on local exchange service for eligible subscribers and which establish a fifty percent discount on service connection fees for eligible subscribers. The remaining portion of the connection fee to be paid by the subscriber shall be expressly payable by installment fees spread over a period of months. A subscriber may, however, choose to pay the connection fee in a lump sum. Costs associated with the waiver and discount shall be accounted for separately and recovered from the lifeline fund. Eligible subscribers shall be allowed one waiver of a deposit and one discount on service connection fees per year.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. Participants in the following department programs are eligible for lifeline assistance: Aid to families with dependent children, chore services, food stamps, supplemental security income, refugee assistance, and community options program entry system (COPES). The department shall notify the participants of their eligibility.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. The energy and utilities committees of the legislature shall review the results of the lifeline program and shall explore by December 15, 1989, whether additional lifeline measures are warranted.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. This act shall expire December 31, 1989, unless extended by the legislature.