20000403Notice of Workshop - Order No 28331.pdf

Office of the Secretary
Service Date
April 3, 2000
BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

IN THE MATTER OF THE INVESTIGATION AND
IMPLEMENTATION OF RULES FOR THE
IDAHO NON-RURAL UNIVERSAL SERVICE
FUND PURSUANT TO IDAHO CODE § 62-610A-F.
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CASE NO. GNR-U-00-1

NOTICE OF PUBLIC
WORKSHOP AND
SCHEDULING ORDER

ORDER NO. 28331

The Commission initiated this proceeding on its own motion to examine what rules are
necessary to implement an Idaho Non-Rural Universal Service Fund established pursuant to
Idaho Code § 62-610A-F. Pursuant to Order No. 28262, comments were filed March 14, 2000, and
a public workshop was held March 28, 2000.
At that public workshop it was agreed that Staff will prepare proposed rules, post them
on the Commission web page and serve all parties by April 25, 2000. All parties will have the
opportunity to critique those proposed rules and file those analyses with the Commission by
electronic mail, hard copy to follow, by May 9, 2000. Commission Staff will post all comments on
the Commission web page and a second public workshop will be held May 23, 2000, beginning at
9:30 a.m.
BACKGROUND
The 1998 Legislature amended Idaho Code Title 62 to create a new Universal Service
Fund (USF).1 See Idaho Code '' 62-610A through F. Idaho Code §§ 62-610A-F require the
Commission to “establish a competitively and technologically neutral funding mechanism which
will operate in coordination with federal universal service support mechanisms.” Initially, this new
fund will only be available to non-rural local exchange carriers2 that meet the statutory criteria.
However, all telecommunications providers, including “municipal, cooperative or mutual telephone

1 The parties at the first public workshop agreed that this new fund should be called the Idaho High Cost Fund to
distinguish it from the existing Idaho Universal Service Fund.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC WORKSHOP
AND SCHEDULING ORDER
ORDER NO. 28331 -1-
2 Any application of this new fund to rural LECs to replace funding available pursuant to Idaho Code § 62-610 cannot
begin earlier than January 1, 2001.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC WORKSHOP
AND SCHEDULING ORDER
ORDER NO. 28331 -2-
companies and telecommunications companies providing wireless, cellular, personal
communications services and mobile radio services for compensation” may be eligible for the new
Idaho High Cost Fund support and all their customers will pay a surcharge to fund the new USF.
Idaho Code § 62-610B
The new USF statute requires that disbursements from the new fund be used to defray
costs, as determined by the Commission, for providing “universal service” to customers within a
geographic support area. In calculating and determining those costs, the Commission must use a
“forward-looking cost methodology.” Idaho Code § 62-610F(2). Therefore, on December 19, 1997,
the Commission opened a docket to analyze cost models and adopt a forward-looking cost model as
required by Idaho Code § 62-610F. (Case No. GNR-T-97-22). That docket is still open and further
evidentiary proceedings are pending. In response to the Legislature’s statutory directive, the
Commission has taken several other steps toward establishing and implementing this new Idaho
High Cost Fund.3
The purpose for this negotiated rulemaking is to determine what rules are necessary to
implement the new Idaho High Cost Fund.
NOTICE OF SECOND PUBLIC WORKSHOP
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that the Commission will convene a second informal
public workshop to examine what rules are necessary to implement the new Idaho High Cost Fund.
The workshop will commence at 9:30 A.M. ON TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2000, IN THE
COMMISSION=S HEARING ROOM, 472 WEST WASHINGTON STREET, BOISE, IDAHO,
[phone]. The workshop will provide an opportunity for utilities, the Commission Staff, and
others to explore what rules are necessary to implement the new Idaho High Cost Fund.
YOU ARE FURTHER NOTIFIED that the Commission encourages utilities and other
interested members to participate in the public workshop scheduled in the body of this Order.

3 Case No. GNR-T-98-7 designated what telecommunications services constitute those services that must be made
available to Idaho consumers (“universal services”) on September 8, 1998. Order No. 27715. The Commission has not
issued any decision in GNR-T-98-8, because the geographic description of the service area may be affected by the cost
model chosen. In January 2000, the Commission initiated GNR-T-00-2 to establish and implement the new Idaho High
Cost Fund, adopted a schedule for evidentiary proceedings and consolidated it with GNR-T-97-22.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC WORKSHOP
AND SCHEDULING ORDER
ORDER NO. 28331 -3-
YOU ARE FURTHER NOTIFIED that all hearings and prehearing conferences in this
matter will be held in facilities meeting the accessibility requirements of the Americans with
Disabilities Act. Persons needing the help of a sign language interpreter or other assistance of the
kind that the Commission is obligated to provide under the Americans with Disabilities Act in order
to participate in or to understand the testimony and argument at a public hearing may ask the
Commission to provide a sign language interpreter or other assistance at the hearing. The request for
assistance must be received at least five (5) working days before the hearing by contacting the
Commission Secretary at:
IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
PO BOX 83720
BOISE, IDAHO 83720-0074
[phone] (TELEPHONE)
[phone] (TEXT TELEPHONE)
[phone] (FAX)

O R D E R
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Commission Staff file proposed rules implementing
the new Idaho High Cost Fund and post those proposed rules on the Commission web page by April
25, 2000.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED any person may file comments responding to those
proposed rules with the Commission by May 9, 2000. Persons filing comments should file those
comments by electronic mail as an attached file in either Word or PDF format with the Commission
by e-mail to [e-mail] or [e-mail] and need not serve other parties
with hard copies. The Commission will post all comments on its web page for public review.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a public workshop be convened to begin at 9:30 a.m.
on May 23, 2000.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC WORKSHOP
AND SCHEDULING ORDER
ORDER NO. 28331 -4-
DONE by Order of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission at Boise, Idaho this
day of March 2000.

DENNIS S. HANSEN, PRESIDENT

MARSHA H. SMITH, COMMISSIONER

PAUL KJELLANDER, COMMISSIONER

ATTEST:

Myrna J. Walters
Commission Secretary

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