Legislature finally OKs CTC funding bill

To speed up the sale of Verizon, the Legislature has agreed to pass the proposed increased funding for the Commonwealth Telecommunications Commission—to be taken from an increase in the company’s annual fees—with no mention whether the increased fee could be passed on to customers or not.

The House, which deleted the phrase allowing Verizon or any telecommunications company “to pass through such costs to consumers,” earlier rejected the Senate amendment that specifically prohibits the pass-on provision to the public.

According to Rep. Oscar Babauta yesterday, the Senate, during a conference committee meeting, agreed to just adopt the House version.

“We met at the conference committee and during our meeting, our Senate counterparts decided to follow the House [version]. They, too, don’t not want to prolong the settlement in relation to the sale of Verizon,” said Babauta.

Members of the conference committee included senators Diego Songao, Henry San Nicolas, Luis P. Crisostimo, Pete P. Reyes, Joseph Mendiola, and Paul A. Manglona from the Senate; and Reps. Timothy Villagomez, Claudio Norita, Arnold I. Palacios, Joseph Deleon Guerrero, Jesus Lizama, and Janet Maratita from the House.

Both the CTC and the Verizon earlier told the Legislature that the passage of the CTC funding bill was part of the requirements in the sale of Verizon to Pacific Telecommunications Inc.

The House, in passing House Bill 14-251 yesterday, adopted the conference committee’s recommendation to delete the phrase “such charges may not be passed on to consumers.”

The bill now provides that “the charges to be imposed on any telecommunications company under CMC section 8327 (a) and (b) shall not exceed 2.5 percent of its annual gross revenues in the Commonwealth in excess of $25,000 up to 20 percent of all charges collected from a telecommunication company…”

The bill provides that the amount (no more than 2.5 percent) collected shall be appropriated to the Attorney General’s Office to be used solely for the purpose of advocating on behalf of CNMI telecom consumers regarding telecom services.

HB 14-251 aims to amend the existing Telecommunications Act to raise the CTC’s funding from .5 percent to 2.5 percent, restoring CTC’s funding to approximately 60 percent of its previous level.

The bill also aims to provide funding for a telecom consumer advocacy, to set up a Universal Service Fund, and to provide CTC with discretion for spending a portion of its budget on items to be addressed in CNMI Universal Service fund regulations.

House members earlier said deleting the pass-on provision does not prohibit a company from passing the cost to the public.

The House said that the deletion only means that the Legislature is not sanctioning the pass-on provision.