PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (text of measure as introduced: CR S986)
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Feb 3, 2005
Rural Universal Service Equity Act of 2005 - Requires the Comptroller General to report to Congress on the need to reform the high cost support mechanism (with respect to universal telephone service) for rural, insular, and high cost areas.
Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in calculating Federal universal service support for eligible telecommunications carriers that serve such areas, to revise its support mechanism for high cost areas to provide support to each wire center in which the incumbent local exchange carrier's average cost per line exceeds the national average by such amount as the FCC determines appropriate for the purpose of ensuring the equitable distribution of universal service support throughout the United States. Requires: (1) the FCC to ensure that no State receives less Federal support than it would have received, up to ten percent of the total support distributed, under the FCC's previous support mechanism; and (2) the total amount of support for all States to be equal to the total support calculated under the support mechanism in existence before enactment of this Act.
States that nothing in this Act shall affect the support provided to rural telephone companies.
People & committees
Sen. Smith, Gordon H. [R-OR] · R–OR
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (text of measure as introduced: CR S986)
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S985-986)
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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