0001|                               AN ACT
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0002| RELATING TO COMMUNICATIONS; AMENDING SECTIONS OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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0003| ACCESS ACT.
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0004| 
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0005| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
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0006|      Section 1.  Section 63-9F-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter
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0007| 54, Section 3) is amended to read:
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0008|      "63-9F-3.  DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Telecommunications Access
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0009| Act:
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0010|           A.  "commission" means the commission for deaf and
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0011| hard-of-hearing persons;
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0012|           B.  "communications assistant" means an individual who
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0013| translates conversation from text to voice and from voice to text
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0014| between two end users of a telecommunications service;
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0015|           C.  "department" means the general services department;
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0016|           D.  "impaired" means having an impairment of or deficit in
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0017| the ability to hear or speak, or both;
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0018|           E.  "intrastate telephone services" means all charges for
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0019| access lines, special services, including all calls originating and
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0020| terminating in the state, and intrastate toll services;
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0021|           F.  "specialized telecommunications equipment" means devices
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0022| that when connected to a telephone enable or assist an impaired
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0023| individual to communicate with another individual using the telephone
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0024| network;
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0025|           G.  "telecommunications company" means an individual,
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0001| corporation, partnership, joint venture, company, firm, association,
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0002| proprietorship or other entity that provides public telecommunications
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0003| services, and includes cellular service companies as defined in
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0004| Subsection B of Section 63-9B-3 NMSA 1978; and
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0005|           H.  "telecommunications relay system" means a statewide
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0006| telecommunications system through which an impaired individual using
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0007| specialized telecommunications equipment is able to send or receive
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0008| messages to and from an individual who is not impaired and whose
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0009| telephone is not equipped with specialized telecommunications equipment
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0010| and through which the unimpaired individual is able, by using voice
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0011| communications, to send and receive messages to and from an impaired
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0012| person."
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0013|      Section 2.  Section 63-9F-11 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter
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0014| 54, Section 11) is amended to read:
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0015|      "63-9F-11.  IMPOSITION OF SURCHARGE.--
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0016|           A.  A telecommunications relay service surcharge of
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0017| thirty-three one hundredths of one percent is imposed on the gross
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0018| amount paid by customers for intrastate telephone services provided in
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0019| this state.  The surcharge shall be included on the monthly bill of each
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0020| customer of a local exchange company or other telecommunications company
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0021| providing intrastate telephone services and paid at the time of payment
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0022| of the monthly bill.  Receipts from selling a service to any other
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0023| telecommunications company or provider for resale shall not be subject
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0024| to the surcharge.  The customer shall be liable for the payment of this
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0025| surcharge to the local exchange company or other telecommunications
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0001| company providing intrastate telephone services to the customer.
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0002|           B.  Every telecommunications company providing intrastate
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0003| telephone services shall be responsible for assessing, collecting and
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0004| remitting the telecommunications relay service surcharge to the taxation
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0005| and revenue department.  The amount of the telecommunications relay
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0006| service surcharge collected by a telecommunications company shall be
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0007| remitted monthly to the taxation and revenue department, on or before
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0008| the twenty-fifth of the month following collection, which shall
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0009| administer and enforce the collection of the surcharge pursuant to the
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0010| provisions of the Tax Administration Act.
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0011|           C.  The taxation and revenue department shall remit to the
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0012| telecommunications access fund the amount of the telecommunications
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0013| relay service surcharge collected less any amount deducted pursuant to
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0014| the provisions of Subsection D of this section.  Transfer of the net
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0015| receipts from the surcharge to the telecommunications access fund shall
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0016| be made within the month following the month in which the surcharge is
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0017| collected.
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0018|           D.  The taxation and revenue department may deduct an amount
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0019| not to exceed three percent of the telecommunications relay service
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0020| surcharge collected as a charge for the administrative costs of
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0021| collection, which amount shall be remitted to the state treasurer for
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0022| deposit in the general fund each month.
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0023|           E.  The general services department shall report to the
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0024| revenue stabilization and tax policy committee annually by September 30
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0025| the following information with respect to the prior fiscal year:
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0001|                (1)  the amount and source of revenue received by the
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0002| telecommunications access fund;
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0003|                (2)  the amount and category of expenditures from the
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0004| fund; and
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0005|                (3)  the balance of the fund on that June 30."
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0006|      Section 3.  EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions
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0007| of this act is July 1, 1996.                        
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0008| 
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0009|                                                              HB
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0010| 55
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0011|                                                              Page 
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