Senate File 51 advances with revisions to Wyoming Telecommunications Act; prepaid wireless to join universal service fund

The Senate Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee on an aye voice and roll-call vote advanced Senate File 51, a package of revisions to the Wyoming Telecommunications Act that extends the law's sunset, clarifies what services are eligible for the state universal service fund and requires prepaid wireless contributions to that fund.

Senate File 51, the committee was told, would extend the act's sunset from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2031, clarify what constitutes "local exchange service" and "noncompetitive essential telecommunications service," and add a limited definition of "broadband Internet access service" to the statute so that political subdivisions must first give incumbent providers an opportunity to provide service before the subdivision may step in.

"This extends the sunset date of the act by 6 years to July 1, 2031," Jason Hendricks, a representative of Range where Communications and the Wyoming Telecommunications Association, told the committee. He said stakeholders including the Public Service Commission, the Office of Consumer Advocate, competitive and wireless providers, AARP and the Farm Bureau participated in crafting the bill.

Why it matters: the bill preserves regulatory oversight that governs retail phone rates, complaint handling and the Wyoming Universal Service Fund (USF) that helps keep landline rates affordable in high-cost rural areas. Committee testimony emphasized that if the statute were allowed to sunset, "the entire regulatory structure of telecommunications in the state would go away," with "a lot of negative repercussions," Hendricks said.

Key provisions and debate

- Sunset extension and modernization: The bill moves numerous definitions and repealer clauses, clarified inconsistent terminology, and updates provisions to reflect changes in technology and market structure since the statute's original 1995 enactment. Hendricks described many of the changes as organizational and modernizing.

- Competitive classifications and USF eligibility: The draft clarifies that competitiveness can be determined by location or exchange rather than only at a companywide level, allowing for subcompany or location-based competitive determinations while preserving USF support for noncompetitive areas.

- Prepaid wireless assessments: The bill adds language (pages 23'29) requiring prepaid wireless transactions to contribute to the Wyoming USF. As Jody Levin (speaking for Charter and Verizon) explained, prepaid wireless typically has no monthly billing record, so the draft borrows an imposition-and-collection model similar to Wyoming's prepaid 9-1-1 statute: retailers would collect the assessment at point of sale and remit it through the Department of Revenue.

- Political subdivisions and broadband: The bill adds a definition of "broadband Internet access service" and inserts it into Section 413 so that political subdivisions are limited from offering broadband or voice services that would compete with industry unless carriers decline the opportunity to provide service.

- Consumer protections retained: The committee heard that the bill preserves the commission's consumer-protection authorities, quality-of-service requirements, notice and tariff-posting modernization (moving to electronic postings), caps on retail phone rates and wholesale switched-access rates, and the commission's investigative and arbitration powers.

Prepaid collection mechanics and fiscal impacts

Melissa Mizell, the Wyoming Universal Service Fund administrator, told the committee the USF has been dispersing roughly $162,000 a month in support payments and that, to date in fiscal 2024 (July'Dec), the fund received about $921,000. She said the fund paid out roughly $2 million in the prior fiscal year and that collections and disbursements are calibrated to keep the benchmark retail essential-service rate near $30 per month (statutory benchmark in W.S. 37-15-501(h)).

Brett Fanning, excise tax administrator for the Department of Revenue, said the department already administers a 1.5% prepaid wireless 9-1-1 tax and collects prepaid wireless remittances from about 100 filers. The department's fiscal estimate for prepaid wireless contributions to USF was about $531,000; the Department of Revenue requested a one-time IT appropriation to add prepaid-wireless/USF functionality to its electronic filing system and to allow combined remittances. A vendor estimate placed programming at $489,400; the committee approved a $500,000 one-time appropriation for that purpose.

Enforcement, outages and 811 locate issues

Committee members raised a recent case in which a carrier's landlines were severed on the Wind River Indian Reservation, depriving some customers of service and potentially 9-1-1 access. Lumen's representative, Dave Pickard, said Lumen is in communication with the Public Service Commission and that the incident likely implicates Wyoming's "call before you dig" (811) statute. Chris Petrie, deputy chairman of the PSC, told the committee enforcement and inspection work on locate/811 violations can lead to penalties and that the PSC has coordinated with the Attorney General's Office on enforcement in prior incidents. Jurisdictional and access issues on tribal land were raised as complicating factors; PSC counsel said they would consult the Attorney General's Office about inspections and enforcement on reservation land.

Votes and committee actions

- The committee adopted an amendment restoring a statutory phrase from "may" back to "shall" regarding the commission's handling of complaints (page 14) and later voted to advance the bill.

- Roll-call on Senate File 51: Senator Bonner ' Aye; Senator Dockstader ' Aye; Senator Landon ' Aye; Senator Steinmetz ' Excused/absent; Chairman Case ' Aye. Tally: 4 ayes, 1 absent. Outcome: approved by the committee for floor consideration.

- The committee approved a one-time $500,000 appropriation to the Department of Revenue to implement electronic filing/programming needed to collect the prepaid-wireless USF assessment, with committee members noting the appropriation will also modernize prepaid 9-1-1 reporting and electronic filing for retailers.

What comes next

Senator Steinmetz was assigned to carry the bill to the floor; the committee chair said he would separate committee amendments before floor debate. Committee members also signaled interest in an interim review of the USF benchmark and eligibility rules, and several senators said they may offer amendments during floor consideration, including proposals to alter the $30 benchmark and to change how multiple lines at a premise are subsidized.

Ending

Committee members and industry witnesses described SF51 as a negotiated compromise that modernizes statutory language while preserving the PSC's core authorities and the Wyoming Universal Service Fund. The committee's passage of the bill and the appropriation send the measure to the Senate floor for further consideration.