Barton Releases Discussion Draft on Universal Service Fund Reform

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), ranking member of the House Commerce Committee, released a discussion draft of a bill to reform the Universal Service Fund. The Universal Service Reform, Accountability, and Efficiency Act of 2008 would rewrite the universal service provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, limiting USF support to voice services and establishing a reverse auction to distribute USF support. The bill would add three economists to the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, reconstitute the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Company with professional public administrators, and require the Federal Communications Commission to set performance measures to determine whether universal service goals are being achieved in an economically efficient way.
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