Texas PUC 'Will Comply' With Court Order to 'Fully Fund' State USF: Gov.'s Office

The Texas Public Utilities Commission “will comply” with the Austin state Court of Appeals’ June 30 order to “fully fund” the state’s USF, a spokesperson for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) emailed us. TPUC approved an increase Thursday in the USF surcharge to 24% from the previous 3.3%, effective Aug. 1 (see 2207140060). The hike was a response to the Court of Appeals’ ruling on a lawsuit by rural LEC associations Texas Telephone Association and Texas Statewide Telephone Cooperative. The court agreed with TTA and TSTC that a 2020 TPUC increase in the USF surcharge to 6.4% violated the state’s constitution and utility and administrative procedure laws (see 2207010045). Abbott vetoed a bill last year to revamp TUSF by adding VoIP providers to the contribution base (see 2106210048). The legislature meets every two years and will return in January.