VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION SERVICES

Carrier Information

Compliance with Telecommunications for the Communications Impaired Act - Sections 16-9-201 through 210, Wyoming Statutes 1991 as it relates to the collection and remittance of the special fee.

Each customer of a local exchange company (LEC) or radio communications service provider (RCC) shall be liable for payment to the local exchange company or radio communications service provider of any special fee imposed pursuant to this act. The local exchange company or radio communications service provider shall not be liable for any uncollected charge, nor shall the company have an obligation to take any legal action to enforce the collection of any charge that is unpaid by its customers. No customer of a local exchange company shall be required to pay the special fee on more than one hundred access lines per account and no customer of a radio communications service provider shall be required to pay the special fee on more than one hundred radio communication service numbers per account in Wyoming.

The Telecommunications Relay Advisory (TRS) Committee is responsible for annually determining the amount of the special fee, not to exceed twenty-five cents ($.25) per access line per month, based upon available cost data and other information, that will cover the costs of providing intrastate message relay service as provided in Section 401 of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, including the cost of implementing and administering this Act. The Committee makes this determination annually at their fall meeting (usually held in either September or October), and then notifies the Public Service Commission. The following is a list of what the annual surcharge was set at from 1991 to the present:

The Statutes require remitting the fees monthly not later than the last day of the month following the end of the month in which the special fee is collected. The money route procedure for Communications Impaired Relay System is as follows:

• Carriers bill clients for the access fee;
• Carrier clients pay access fee to LECs and RCC;
• Carriers complete reporting form;
• Carriers make check payable to: Wyoming State Treasurer;
• Carriers send checks to:
  

  Department of Workforce Services
  Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR)

  1100 Herschler Building
  Cheyenne, WY 82002
• Attn: M.R.S. Fiscal Section; and
• DVR delivers checks to State Treasurer’s Office to be deposited in State account.

Most Carriers submit the monthly reporting form along with their check, and then they submit an annual reporting form at the end of the year. These forms allow us to keep an accurate record of your account and are preferable to an on-site audit of your records.

The statutes allow each local exchange company or radio communications service provider to deduct and retain one percent (1%) of the total charges billed and collected each month to cover administrative expenses in complying with this statute. You must submit a letter to the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation stating that you elect to deduct the 1% Administrative fee.

There have been a number of issues raised since the inception of the statues. The following is a summary of those issues:

1. One-way paging services are exempt from access fees.
2. All Radio Common Carriers are required to collect the special access fee from
   their subscribers.
   
   The Federal Act, Section 225(a)(i) defines common carriers as including “...any common carrier engaged in intrastate communications by wire or radio...” Federal Act, Section 225(c) also requires all common carriers (wire or radio) providing telephone voice transmission to participate in the Federal Act and compliance with the Federal Act is accomplished by complying with the State’s program.
   
   Section 209(c) of the Wyoming Act mandates that customers of radio communications service providers must make their special access fee payments to their radio communication service providers. Under the Wyoming Act, all Wyoming radio common carriers are required to collect the special access fee from their subscribers.
3. In cases where a Radio Common Carrier is obtaining access services from a local exchange company, the local exchange company shall collect the access fees only for the access lines used by the Radio Common Carrier to operate its radio communications business.
   
   The Wyoming Act requires the special access fee to be paid by the customer of a local exchange company or radio communication service who can gain access to a local or toll telecommunication network. The local exchange company would only assess the access fee on the access lines used by the Radio Common Carrier to operate their radio communications business. The local exchange company would not assess the access fee on the access lines which the Radio Common Carrier made available, through their business, to the public as an access to the communications network. Therefore, there is no double billing or taxation issue.
4. Radio Common Carriers are to collect access fees from their subscribers based on the number of channels (access lines) made available to said subscribers.
   
   Examples of each system are as follows:
   
   

   Single Channel System:

   1 channel/system = 1 access line/subscriber @ .07 cents/access line =
   .07 cents/subscriber/month.
   
   

   Multi-Channel System:

   2 channels/system = 2 access lines/subscriber @ .07 cents/access line =
   .14 cents/subscriber/month.
   
   3 channels/system = 3 access lines/subscriber @ .07 cents/access line =
   .21 cents/subscriber/month.

Thank you for your time and attention in collecting and remitting these fees. If you have any questions regarding the regulations, the forms, remittance of the fee and/or the Relay Service in general, please feel free to contact Lori Cielinski, Program Consultant at (800) 452-1408 or Jenny Grzegorczyk, Program Accountant at (307) 777-6837.

Downloadable Documents

• Monthly Remittance Form
• Annual Remittance Form
• Wyoming Statutes

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