Chapter 052
2016 -- H 7014
Enacted 06/06/2016

A N   A C T
RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION--INFORMATION ACCESSIBILITY SERVICE FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

Introduced By: Representatives Naughton, Ackerman, Jacquard, Fogarty, and Handy
Date Introduced: January 06, 2016

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
     SECTION 1. Section 39-1-42 of the General Laws in Chapter 39-1 entitled "Public
Utilities Commission" is hereby amended to read as follows:
     39-1-42. Access to telephone information services for persons with disabilities. -- (a)
The public utilities commission shall establish, administer, and promote an information
accessibility service that includes:
      (1) A statewide telephone relay service and, through the competitive bidding process,
contract for the administration and operation of such a relay system for utilization of the
telecommunications network by deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-impaired persons;
      (2) The adaptive telephone equipment loan program capable of servicing the needs of
persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, severely speech impaired, or those with neuromuscular
impairments for use with a single-party telephone line, or wireless telephone, to any subscriber
who is certified as deaf, hard of hearing, severely speech impaired, or with neuromuscular
impairments by a licensed physician, audiologist, speech pathologist, or a qualified state agency,
pursuant to chapter 23 of this title; and
      (3) A telephone access to the text of newspaper programs to residents who are blind,
deaf or blind, visually impaired, or reading impaired with a single-party telephone line.
      (b) The commission shall establish, by rule or regulation, an appropriate funding
mechanism to recover the costs of providing this service from each residence and business
telephone access line or trunk in the state, including PBX trunks and centrex equivalent trunks
and each service line or trunk, and upon each user interface number or extension number or
similarly identifiable line, trunk, or path to or from a digital network. Notwithstanding the
foregoing, there shall not be any additional funding mechanism used to charge each residence and
business telephone access line or truck trunk in the state, including PBX trunks and centrex
equivalent trunks and each service line or trunk, or upon each user interface number or extension
number or similarly identifiable line, trunk, or path to or from a digital network, to recover the
costs of providing the services outlined in subsections (a)(1), (2) or (3) above.
      (c) The commission, with the assistance of the state commission on the deaf and hard of
hearing, shall also develop the appropriate rules, regulations, and service standards necessary to
implement the provisions of subsection (a)(1) of this section. At a minimum, however, the
commission shall require, under the terms of the contract, that the relay service provider:
      (1) Offer its relay services seven (7) days a week, twenty-four (24) hours a day,
including holidays;
      (2) Hire only qualified salaried operators with deaf language skills; and
      (3) Maintain the confidentiality of all communications.
      (d) The commission shall collect from the telecommunications service providers the
amounts of the surcharge collected from their subscribers and remit to the department of human
services an additional ten thousand dollars ($10,000) annually commencing in fiscal year 2005
for the adaptive telephone equipment loan program and forty thousand dollars ($40,000) to the
department of human services for the establishment of a new telephone access to the text of
newspaper programs. In addition, eighty thousand dollars ($80,000) shall annually be remitted to
the Rhode Island Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing commission on the deaf and
hard of hearing for an emergency and public communication access program, pursuant to ยง 23-
1.8-4 of the Rhode Island general laws. The surcharge referenced hereunder shall be generated
from existing funding mechanisms and shall not be generated as a result of any new funding
mechanisms charged to each residence and business telephone access line or trunk in the state,
including PBX trunks and centrex equivalent trunks and each service line or trunk, or upon each
user interface number or extension number or similarly identifiable line, trunk, or path to or from
a digital network.
     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC003174
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