PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Telecommunications Division |
RESOLUTION T-16748 |
Public Programs Branch |
May 22, 2003 |
R E S O L U T I O N
RESOLUTION T-16748. APPROVAL OF THE CALIFORNIA TELECONNECT FUND (CTF) ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE FUND BUDGET FOR JULY 1, 2003 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2004 TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF PUBLIC UTILITIES CODE SECTIONS 270-281.
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Summary
On May 9, 2002, the California Teleconnect Fund (CTF) Administrative Committee (AC) 1 filed with the Executive Director of the California Public Utilities Commission its proposed budget for July 1, 2003 through June 30, 2004.
This resolution maintains the surcharge rate of 0.0% until further revised by the Commission and adopts a budget of $34,511,916 for fiscal year (FY) 2003-04 for the CTF Administrative Committee Fund.
Background
The California Teleconnect Fund was implemented under Decision (D.) 96-10-066 on October 25, 1996. In this decision, the Commission reaffirmed its commitment to universal service, and in accordance with state and federal directives, created the CTF to provide discounted rates for a family of telecommunications services for schools and libraries, government-owned health care providers and qualifying community based organizations.
In October 1999, PU Code sections 270-281 were codified as a result of the enactment of Senate Bill (SB) 669 (Stats. 1999, Chapter 677). Section 270(b) requires that the monies in the CTF and five other funds may only be expended pursuant to sections 270-281 and upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act.
On May 9, 2002, the CTF-AC submitted a letter request to the Executive Director seeking the approval of the July 1, 2003 to June 20, 2004 budget of $40.310 million and a surcharge rate of 0.0%. This budget request was filed in accordance with Ordering Paragraph 7 of Resolution T-16521. Further, this letter request is consistent with similar requests for other public programs that have submitted FY 2003-04 budgets for Commission consideration.
Notice/Protests
Notice of the AC's budget letter request was published in the Commission Daily Calendar of May 9, 2002. No protest to the letter request was received by the Telecommunications Division.
Discussion
In this Resolution, the Commission adopts the following:
· The surcharge rate is continued at 0.0% until further revised by the Commission.
· The CTF program budget for FY 2003-04 in the amount of $34,511,916.
In Resolution T-16686 dated December 5, 2002, the Commission approved a revised $59.063 million FY 2002-03 budget for the CTF and a projected ending fund balance of $56.155 million. Appendix A shows a comparison between the Commission adopted revised program budget and revised FY02/03 as projected to June 30, 2003 with adjusted billing base of $19,017,199,000. The updated budget will result in a projected fund balance of $110.089 million as of June 30, 2003.
Appendix B shows the FY 2003-04 CTF budget as proposed by the CTF Administrative Committee in May 2002 and TD's proposed FY 2003-04 Budget as revised on 4/15/03. Of the $34.512 million proposed budget for FY 2003-04, $31.765 million is for claim payments submitted by the carriers providing CTF discounted services, $2.015 million for financial, compliance and surcharge remittance audits, $23,000 for banking fees, $26,000 for Advisory Committee expenses, $158,000 for Administrative/Staff Costs, and $525,000 for inter-agency programming and maintaining the electronic and monitoring systems.
Based on the telecommunications surcharge revenue remittances for the past fiscal year 2001-02 and the forecast of such surcharge revenue remittances for FY 2002-03, the estimated intrastate billings subject to surcharge are revised to $19,845,588,079 for FY 2003-04. The forecast is based on a 4.35%2 growth on the FY 2002-03 estimated billing base of $19,017,199,000 used in Resolution T-16685 dated January 30, 2003.
The current CTF surcharge rate of 0% is maintained until further revised by the Commission.
Notice of Availability
In the past, the Commission has served a hard copy of prior resolutions regarding CTF budgets on all telecommunications carriers and the parties of record in R. 95-10-020/I95-01-021. To be consistent with the Commission's commitment to utilize the Internet for distributing Commission orders and information, the Telecommunications Division has informed the telecommunications carriers and the parties of record in R. 95-01-020/I95-01-021 on the availability of the draft resolution as well as the conformed resolution, when adopted by the Commission web-site, www.cpuc.ca.gov.
Comments
In compliance with PU Code section 311 (g), the draft of this Resolution was mailed on April 22, 2003 to carriers serving CTF customers, the CTF-AC, and the parties of record in R. 95-01-020/I95-01-021. A copy of this resolution is available at www.cpuc.ca.gov/static/industry/telco/resolutions/index.htm and is available for public comments. In addition, the Telecommunications Division (TD) informed these parties of the availability of the conformed resolution at the same website. A letter advising all carriers of record of the availability of this resolution was mailed on April 22, 2003.
No comments to this resolution were received by the Telecommunications Division.
Findings
1. In October 1999, Public Utilities Code (PU) Code Sections 270-281 were codified as a result of the enactment of Senate Bill 669.
2. PU Code section 270(b) requires that the monies in California Teleconnect Fund (CTF) Administrative Committee Fund may only be disbursed pursuant to sections 270-281 and upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act.
3. Resolution T-16686 dated December 5, 2002 adopted a revised FY 2002-03 budget of $59.063 million with a fund balance of $56.155 million.
4. The updated FY 2002-03 CTF budget, as shown in Appendix A, projects expenses to be $29.222 million and an ending fund balance as of June 30, 2003 to be $110.089 million.
5. The updated FY 2002-03 CTF budget, as set forth in Appendix A of this resolution, is reasonable and should be adopted.
6. On May 9, 2002, the CTF Administrative Committee (AC) submitted a letter request to the Executive Director seeking the approval of the CTF Fiscal Year (FY) 2003-04 budget of $ 40.310 million and a surcharge rate of 0%.
7. The updated Telecommunications Division proposed budget for the CTF for FY 2003-04 of $34,511,916, as set forth in Appendix B of this resolution, is reasonable and should be adopted.
8. The surcharge rate of 0.0% should be maintained for FY 2003-04 until further revised by the Commission.
1. In October 1999, Public Utilities Code (PU) Code Sections 270-281 were codified as a result of the enactment of Senate Bill 669.
2. PU Code section 270(b) requires that the monies in California Teleconnect Fund (CTF) Administrative Committee Fund may only be disbursed pursuant to sections 270-281 and upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act.
3. Resolution T-16686 dated December 5, 2002 adopted a revised FY 2002-03 budget of $59.063 million with a fund balance of $56.155 million.
4. The updated FY 2002-03 CTF budget, as shown in Appendix A, projects expenses to be $29.222 million and an ending fund balance as of June 30, 2003 to be $110.089 million.
5. The updated FY 2002-03 CTF budget, as set forth in Appendix A of this resolution, is reasonable and should be adopted.
6. On May 9, 2002, the CTF Administrative Committee (AC) submitted a letter request to the Executive Director seeking the approval of the CTF Fiscal Year (FY) 2003-04 budget of $ 40.310 million and a surcharge rate of 0%.
7. The updated Telecommunications Division proposed budget for the CTF for FY 2003-04 of $34,511,916, as set forth in Appendix B of this resolution, is reasonable and should be adopted.
8. The surcharge rate of 0.0% should be maintained for FY 2003-04 until further revised by the Commission.
9. The draft of this resolution was mailed to carriers serving CTF customers, the CTF-AC and the parties of record in R. 95-01-020/I.95-01-021. A copy of the cover letter of that mailing was also sent to each of the Commission certificated telecommunications carriers advising them of the availability of this draft resolution and the conformed resolution, when adopted by the Commission on the Commission's web site.
10. No protests to this resolution were received by the Telecommunications Division.
THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that:
1. The updated CTF Fiscal Year (FY) 2002-03 budget, as shown in Appendix A of this resolution, is adopted.
2. The CTF FY 2003-04 budget of $34,511,916, as set forth in Appendix B of this resolution, is adopted.
3. The surcharge rate of 0.0% shall be maintained for FY 2003-04 until further revised by the Commission.
This Resolution is effective today.
I hereby certify that this Resolution was adopted by the Public Utilities Commission at its regular meeting on May 22, 2003. The following Commissioners approved it:
/s/ WILLIAM AHERN |
WILLIAM AHERNExecutive Director |
MICHAEL R. PEEVEYPresident | |
CARL W. WOOD | |
LORETTA M. LYNCH | |
GEOFFREY F. BROWN | |
SUSAN P. KENNEDY | |
Commissioners | |
1 Pursuant to Public Utilities Code section 275 (a), the CTF-AC functioned as an Advisory Committee, not as an Administrative Committee, after September 30, 2001.
2 Pursuant to Public Utilities Code section 270 (a) (6), the fund name will be California Teleconnect Fund -Administrative Committee Fund. [NOTE: there is no number in the text for this footnote]
2 This growth rate reflects personal income percentage changes for California projected by UCLA Anderson in December 2002 for 2003 and 2004.
