Carrier Information

Compliance with Telecommunications for the Communications Impaired, Enrolled Act No. 110, W.S. 16-9-201 through 210, and specifically W.S. 16-9-209 (c)(d) Special Fee:

Each customer of a local exchange company or radio communications service provider shall be liable for payment to the local exchange company or radio communications service provider of any special fee imposed pursuant to this act. In the case of a customer of a radio communications service provider, any fee imposed by this act shall be imposed only if the customer’s place of primary use is in this state as provided by the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act, 4 U.S.C. §§ 116 through 126. The provisions of the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act shall apply to this subsection. 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 (100) 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 (100) 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 (held in September), and then notifies the Public Service Commission. The following is a list of the annual surcharge 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. However, companies may remit the fees annually or quarterly as long as the total amount remitted remains equal to or less than fifty dollars ($50.00). A company electing to remit quarterly or annually must notify the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) at dws-wyrelay@wyo.gov and receive written approval. The money route procedure for the Wyoming Relay Special Fee is as follows:

• Carriers bill clients for the access fee;
• Carrier clients pay access fee to the local exchange company and/or radio communications service provider;
• Carriers complete the monthly reporting form;
• Carriers make check payable to: Wyoming State Treasurer;
• Carriers send checks to:
  Wyoming Relay, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
  444 West Collins Drive, Suite 1200, Casper, WY 82601
  Attn: Fiscal Section; and
• DVR delivers checks to State Treasurer’s Office to be deposited in State account

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. Carriers shall indicate on their remittance form if they 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 and/or access lines made available to said subscribers.

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, lori.cielinski@wyo.gov or dws-wyrelay@wyo.gov.

Downloadable Documents

• Monthly Special Fee Remittance Form (PDF)
• Monthly Special Fee Remittance Form (Word)
• Annual Special Fee Remittance Form (PDF)
• Annual Special Fee Remittance Form (Word)