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CTC funding bill passed into law
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Posted on Feb 08 2005
The Babauta administration has approved a bill that aims to provide increased funding to the independent Commonwealth Telecommunications Commission, using fees from telecommunication companies such as Verizon.
The measure, House Bill 14-251, was signed into law on Jan. 17 by then acting Gov. Diego T. Benavente. It now becomes Public Law 14-53.
The bill, which initially met strong opposition at the Legislature, finally passed both houses on Dec. 17, citing its importance in the ongoing negotiation for the sale of Verizon to Pacific Telecommunications Inc.
The Legislature passed the bill with no mention as to whether the fees could be passed on by telecom companies to their customers or not.
The House, which deleted the phrase “to pass through such costs to consumers,” had rejected the Senate amendment, which specifically aimed to prohibit the pass-on.
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.
The Senate, during a conference committee meeting, eventually agreed to just adopt the House version.
Governor’s legal counsel Steve Newman said the Executive Branch essentially kept the bill intact.
Both the CTC and Verizon earlier told the Legislature that the passage of the bill was part of the requirements in the sale of Verizon to PTI.
The measure, authored by Rep. Oscar Babauta, provides that “the charges to be imposed on any telecommunications company…shall not exceed 2.5 percent of its annual gross revenues in Commonwealth in excess of $25,000 up to 20 percent of all charges collected from a telecommunication company…”
The bill provides that the amount 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 amends the existing Telecommunications Act to raise CTC funding from .5 percent to 2.5 percent, to restore CTC funding to approximately 60 percent of its previous level.
