§37-1-80.2. Dual party relay system and fund; board of trustees; funding of other services; liability of trustees.

(a) The Alabama Public Service Commission shall impose a surcharge on each access line of each customer of the local exchange companies operating in Alabama to fund a dual party relay system whereby a deaf or hearing-impaired person may communicate with other such persons or with hearing persons via telephone. The fee may be imposed by order of the Alabama Public Service Commission on the access line.

(b) The Alabama Public Service Commission shall establish the amount to be imposed based on the amount of funding necessary to implement and maintain such system. However, no additional fees other than the surcharge may be imposed on any user of this deaf and hearing-impaired service.

(c) The local exchange companies shall collect the surcharge from their customers and transfer the moneys collected to the Alabama Public Service Commission to be deposited into a special fund established by the State Treasurer to be held separate from all other funds and used for the administration of this system and other purposes. The fund shall be known as the State Dual Party Relay Fund and shall be administered as provided in subsections (e), (f), and (g). In addition to using funds collected from this surcharge for the administration of this system, the Dual Party Relay Fund Board of Trustees, through the Alabama Public Service Commission, shall transfer from the Dual Party Relay Fund established in this section to the State Dual Party Relay Fund established by the State Treasurer the amount of thirty million dollars ($30,000,000). These funds shall be transferred in the amount of seven million five hundred thousand dollars ($7,500,000) before each of the following four dates:

October 15, 2011

January 15, 2012

April 15, 2012

July 15, 2012

After July 15, 2012, thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) shall be transferred from the State Dual Party Relay Fund established by the State Treasurer to the Education Trust Fund.

All funds collected pursuant to this section are hereby appropriated for the purposes provided for in this section.

The surcharge collected by the local exchange companies from their customers shall not be subject to the utility gross receipts tax levied under Sections 40-21-80 through 40-21-87 or the utility use tax levied under Sections 40-21-100 through 40-21-107, nor shall such collections be included in the gross receipts subject to tax under Section 40-21-58 or the supervision and inspection fees under Sections 37-4-23 and 37-4-24.

(d) The Alabama Public Service Commission shall be charged with implementation of the dual party relay system within the state and shall establish the procedures for its continuation.

(e) The Dual Party Relay Fund shall be governed by the Dual Party Relay Fund Board of Trustees, appointed by the Alabama Public Service Commission. On behalf of the Dual Party Relay Fund, the trustees may select an administrator, service provider, and auditing firm, and may obtain other services and execute such other contracts as may be necessary to carry out their duties. All costs associated with the implementation of the system and the functions of the Dual Party Relay Fund and its board of trustees, including, without limitation, any insurance costs, shall be paid out of the Dual Party Relay Fund. The trustees shall not be paid for their service, but shall be reimbursed for their actual and reasonable expenses in carrying out their duties. The trustees shall submit an annual report to the Alabama Public Service Commission regarding the condition of the fund, which shall include a copy of an annual audit.

(f) As part of its administration of the dual party relay system, the trustees may authorize the funding of other telephone services to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf/blind and speech impaired, including the provision of informational services to the blind; provided, however, that no existing service provided to the deaf or hearing impaired shall be terminated or curtailed as a result of any such additional program.

(g) Absent negligence, wantonness, recklessness, or deliberate misconduct, a trustee shall not be subject to civil liability for any act or omission in carrying out his or her duties as a trustee. In addition, those trustees who are officials or employees of the Alabama Public Service Commission shall receive the benefit of any immunities that would normally apply to such official or employee in carrying out his or her official duties.

(h) Nothing in this section shall invalidate contracts entered into prior to July 1, 2006, which contracts are hereby ratified and confirmed.

(Acts 1988, No. 88-259, p. 400; Act 2006-384, p. 982, §§1, 2; Act 2011-567, p. 1144, §1.)