NARUC Telecom Committee Chairman Chris Nelson praised the...

NARUC Telecom Committee Chairman Chris Nelson praised the FCC decision Thursday to seek recommendations from the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service on how the commission should modify the universal service contribution methodology. NARUC had asked the FCC to refer the methodology issue to the joint board “because these are exactly the kinds of decisions Congress had in mind when it created the Joint Board in the first place,” he said in a statement. “The Joint Board process ensures that the agency will receive expert recommendations from the States officials closest to the consumers affected by changes to the Universal Service program” (http://bit.ly/1r7GjSz). The FCC referred the board to its 2012 Further NPRM on the issue, asking for recommendations on modifications to the contribution system that would affect the statutory principle that there be state as well as federal mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service (CD Aug 8 p12).