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Posted by Amy Gross on 7/7/20 1:01 PM

Today's Regulatory Mix: FCC Increases Rural Health Care Funding, FCC to Fully Fund E-Rate Requests, FCC Issues NAL for Failing to Respond to USAC, FCC’s Pai Reacts To Supreme Court Robocall Decision

rural healthcareFCC Increases Rural Health Care Funding

The FCC’ Wireline Competition Bureau has directed the Universal Service Administrative Company, which administers the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program, to carry forward up to $197.98 million in unused funds from prior funding years to the extent necessary to satisfy funding year 2020 demand for the Program. The RHC Program funding cap for funding year 2020 is $604,759,306.  As a result, the total amount of support available to eligible health care providers for funding year 2020 will be $802.74 million, the most in the Program’s history.  The cap for upfront payments and multi-year commitments under the Healthcare Connect Fund Program is $152,700,000.

Interest in the Rural Health Care Program has grown in recent years and funding requests from health care providers for high-speed broadband had outpaced the funding cap, placing a strain on the Program’s ability to increase access to broadband for health care providers, particularly in rural areas, and foster the deployment of broadband health care networks. In 2018, the FCC adopted rules to address this increasing demand.

“In 2018, the FCC took swift action to ensure that the Rural Health Care Program better reflected the needs of and advances in connected care. Looking to the future, we gave providers more certainty by adjusting the cap annually for inflation and allowing unused funds from previous years to be carried forward,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “And now, more than ever, our foresight is fortuitous, as telehealth is proving to be critical in our fight against COVID-19. Today’s announcement speaks to the FCC’s commitment to ensuring that rural health care providers can continue to serve their communities during this difficult time and well into the future.”

 

FCC entrance shutterstock-1FCC to Fully Fund E-Rate Requests

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced that there is sufficient funding available to fully meet the Universal Service Administrative Company’s (USAC) estimated demand for category one and category two requests for E-Rate supported services for funding year 2020. It therefore directed USAC to fully fund eligible category one and category two requests, using the $500 million in E-Rate funds unused from previous years, and any additional funds needed under the current cap to fully meet demand for such services.

On May 1, 2020, USAC told the FCC it estimated that the total demand for funding year 2020 will be $2.91 billion, which includes estimated demand for category one services of $1.74 billion and of $1.17 billion for category two services.  It also projected that $500 million in unused funds from previous years is available for use in E-Rate funding year 2020.  The Bureau previously announced that the E-Rate program funding cap for funding year 2020 is $4.23 billion. Accordingly, there is sufficient funding to fully fund all category one and category two funding  requests. 

 

FCC Issues NAL for Failing to Respond to USAC

The FCC has issued a Notice of Apparent Liability For Forfeiture against a carrier that failed to submit a timely and complete response to USAC’s inquiries concerning its jurisdictional allocation of revenue on its Form 499s.  The FCC proposed a base forfeiture amount of $50,000 for the company’s failure to submit a timely and complete response to USAC’s directives within the last 12 months.  And, because of the repeated nature of the company’s apparent violations, including its apparent failures to respond to USAC’s directives to provide information and documentation by the April 2, May 16, and July 9, 2019, deadlines, the FCC applied an upward adjustment of 50%.  Thus, it proposed a total forfeiture of $75,000.  The carrier has 30 days to pay the file or file a written statement seeking reduction or cancellation of the proposed forfeiture.

DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE FCC BRIEFING

 

 

court columns-1FCC’s Pai Reacts To Supreme Court Robocall Decision

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement in response to a US Supreme Court ‘s ruling that the federal debt collection exception to the ban on making robocalls to cell phones was unconstitutional.

“The Telephone Consumer Protection Act has long shielded Americans from unwanted robocalls, but the Obama Administration in 2015 snuck in a carve-out for federal debt collectors. I opposed that decision because, as I said at the time, the federal government should not bestow ‘regulatory largesse upon favored industries such as federal debt collectors,’ and I called on Congress to reverse course.

Thanks to the Supreme Court, that carve-out is no more. Today, the Court found that the last Administration’s attempt to create a special exemption for favored debt collectors was not only bad policy but unconstitutional. I am glad to hear that Americans, who are sick and tired of unwanted robocalls, will now get the relief from federal-debt-collector robocalls they have long deserved.”

 

____________________________

The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.

 

Lean About Trac-It!

 

GET COVID-19 STATE REGULATORY ACTION LIST HERE

 

Contact Us   for  Broadband Reporting Assistance!

 

 

Topics: E-rate, Rural Healthcare, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Supreme Court Robocall Decision, Failure to Respond to USAC

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Posted by Amy Gross on 7/7/20 1:01 PM

Today's Regulatory Mix: FCC Increases Rural Health Care Funding, FCC to Fully Fund E-Rate Requests, FCC Issues NAL for Failing to Respond to USAC, FCC’s Pai Reacts To Supreme Court Robocall Decision

rural healthcareFCC Increases Rural Health Care Funding

The FCC’ Wireline Competition Bureau has directed the Universal Service Administrative Company, which administers the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program, to carry forward up to $197.98 million in unused funds from prior funding years to the extent necessary to satisfy funding year 2020 demand for the Program. The RHC Program funding cap for funding year 2020 is $604,759,306.  As a result, the total amount of support available to eligible health care providers for funding year 2020 will be $802.74 million, the most in the Program’s history.  The cap for upfront payments and multi-year commitments under the Healthcare Connect Fund Program is $152,700,000.

Interest in the Rural Health Care Program has grown in recent years and funding requests from health care providers for high-speed broadband had outpaced the funding cap, placing a strain on the Program’s ability to increase access to broadband for health care providers, particularly in rural areas, and foster the deployment of broadband health care networks. In 2018, the FCC adopted rules to address this increasing demand.

“In 2018, the FCC took swift action to ensure that the Rural Health Care Program better reflected the needs of and advances in connected care. Looking to the future, we gave providers more certainty by adjusting the cap annually for inflation and allowing unused funds from previous years to be carried forward,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “And now, more than ever, our foresight is fortuitous, as telehealth is proving to be critical in our fight against COVID-19. Today’s announcement speaks to the FCC’s commitment to ensuring that rural health care providers can continue to serve their communities during this difficult time and well into the future.”

 

FCC entrance shutterstock-1FCC to Fully Fund E-Rate Requests

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced that there is sufficient funding available to fully meet the Universal Service Administrative Company’s (USAC) estimated demand for category one and category two requests for E-Rate supported services for funding year 2020. It therefore directed USAC to fully fund eligible category one and category two requests, using the $500 million in E-Rate funds unused from previous years, and any additional funds needed under the current cap to fully meet demand for such services.

On May 1, 2020, USAC told the FCC it estimated that the total demand for funding year 2020 will be $2.91 billion, which includes estimated demand for category one services of $1.74 billion and of $1.17 billion for category two services.  It also projected that $500 million in unused funds from previous years is available for use in E-Rate funding year 2020.  The Bureau previously announced that the E-Rate program funding cap for funding year 2020 is $4.23 billion. Accordingly, there is sufficient funding to fully fund all category one and category two funding  requests. 

 

FCC Issues NAL for Failing to Respond to USAC

The FCC has issued a Notice of Apparent Liability For Forfeiture against a carrier that failed to submit a timely and complete response to USAC’s inquiries concerning its jurisdictional allocation of revenue on its Form 499s.  The FCC proposed a base forfeiture amount of $50,000 for the company’s failure to submit a timely and complete response to USAC’s directives within the last 12 months.  And, because of the repeated nature of the company’s apparent violations, including its apparent failures to respond to USAC’s directives to provide information and documentation by the April 2, May 16, and July 9, 2019, deadlines, the FCC applied an upward adjustment of 50%.  Thus, it proposed a total forfeiture of $75,000.  The carrier has 30 days to pay the file or file a written statement seeking reduction or cancellation of the proposed forfeiture.

DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE FCC BRIEFING

 

 

court columns-1FCC’s Pai Reacts To Supreme Court Robocall Decision

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement in response to a US Supreme Court ‘s ruling that the federal debt collection exception to the ban on making robocalls to cell phones was unconstitutional.

“The Telephone Consumer Protection Act has long shielded Americans from unwanted robocalls, but the Obama Administration in 2015 snuck in a carve-out for federal debt collectors. I opposed that decision because, as I said at the time, the federal government should not bestow ‘regulatory largesse upon favored industries such as federal debt collectors,’ and I called on Congress to reverse course.

Thanks to the Supreme Court, that carve-out is no more. Today, the Court found that the last Administration’s attempt to create a special exemption for favored debt collectors was not only bad policy but unconstitutional. I am glad to hear that Americans, who are sick and tired of unwanted robocalls, will now get the relief from federal-debt-collector robocalls they have long deserved.”

 

____________________________

The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.

 

Lean About Trac-It!

 

GET COVID-19 STATE REGULATORY ACTION LIST HERE

 

Contact Us   for  Broadband Reporting Assistance!

 

 

Topics: E-rate, Rural Healthcare, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Supreme Court Robocall Decision, Failure to Respond to USAC

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