Subcommittee backs LFC budget for Commission for Deaf and Hard of Hearing as agency seeks audit of declining relay surcharge revenue

The Appropriations & Finance Subcommittee accepted the Legislative Finance Committee's budget recommendation for the Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, while commissioners and the agency director urged legislators to pursue an audit of relay-surcharge revenue and consider statutory changes to stabilize funding.

The commission told the subcommittee its primary funding — fees tied to telecommunications usage — has fallen short of initial projections as carriers and services migrated from legacy analog lines to internet-based and bundled plans. Director Nathan Gohme warned that the decline threatens federally required relay services and expanding support programs for deaf, deaf-blind and deaf seniors, and requested additional one-time and recurring funds to avoid caps on services.

Agency staff described the detailed difference between the executive and LFC budgets as largely a revenue-side choice: the LFC recommends using $50,000 more of fund balance than the executive, creating a modest $52,800 net variance. Staff noted the agency’s fund balance is roughly $3 million and that the LFC included a $100,000 special-appropriation line for an audit of the telecommunication relay service fund in collaboration with Taxation and Revenue Department (per LFC language), which both DFA and LFC analysts flagged as intended to identify underpaid or misreported carrier payments.

“We really wanna do our due diligence to make sure that we have all the right information,” Director Nathan Gohme told the subcommittee, citing successful audits in other states that recovered significant previously unclaimed revenue. He said one state audit secured an additional $1.3 million in relay-related revenue and called for a vendor-capable audit that would examine federal and carrier records.

Gohme and staff also described service shifts that reduce visible surcharge revenue: as consumers moved from analog lines to internet-based and bundled phone services, the tiny per-line surcharge (sometimes only a few cents on a monthly bill) often does not appear in collections data or is hard to trace because carriers bundle services. “The Internet as it stands is not technically a service that we can collect from according to the FCC,” an agency representative said, noting that FCC rules have limited the ability to treat internet service itself as a surchargeable line item.

The commission highlighted programmatic growth that is straining current appropriations. The commission runs a communication facilitator program and a support service program (SSP) that serves people who are deaf-blind or have additional disabilities. Enrollment rose from 59 participants (FY23) to 89 (FY24) and to about 94 currently, agency staff said. The commission requested roughly $856,400 in combined funding to sustain and expand services (including a prior $200,000 special appropriation for communication facilitators and an additional $200,000 request for SSP support). Director Gohme said caps on hours or on the number of people served would be required without more funding.

Committee members asked whether statutory changes to the surcharge should be pursued. Agency staff and some legislators recommended considering a shift from a percentage-based surcharge on telephone service toward a flat rate — modeled in part on how emergency 9-1-1 funding is structured — because a flat fee would be less sensitive to carriers’ bundling practices. Agency leadership said draft statutory language had been prepared previously and that they would re-introduce it for consideration.

After questions and discussion, Representative Dixon moved that the subcommittee recommend the LFC budget recommendation for the agency; Representative Little seconded. There were no objections and the LFC recommendation was accepted.

Subcommittee action and next steps were procedural: the LFC special appropriation to audit relay fund receipts was included in recommendations to the committee; staff flagged that any statutory change to surcharge structure would require separate legislation and further review.

Ending: The commission left the committee with clear short-term and long-term asks: approve the LFC recommendation for now, fund a revenue audit to recover potentially uncollected carrier payments, and consider statutory change during the session to stabilize recurring funding for mandated relay and support services.