NCSC, CoBank Join Forces To Fight for Continued USF Support

 

Given their strong mutual dedication to rural connectivity and prosperity, NCSC and CoBank collaborated this month to file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Universal Service Fund (USF). NCSC and CoBank, along with 15 other organizations, filed an amicus brief on January 16.

The USF, which has existed in some form since 1934, supports voice and broadband access in high-cost areas. These are primarily rural areas where the density of customers makes providing services too costly without the support of the USF. In addition to individual customers, this program also supports access to “community anchor institutions” including libraries, schools and hospitals. The funding from this program comes from fees collected from telecom providers of all sizes.

“Sustaining universal service is a critical issue for consumers, businesses and anchor institutions in the deeply rural areas served by our members and other community-based providers, and we greatly appreciate NCSC and CoBank coming together to take the lead on this important effort,” NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield said. “Staff from the two organizations worked diligently to put together a coalition to support this brief in a tight window to meet the court’s filing deadline.”

The consolidated cases of Federal Communications Commission, et al. v. Consumers’ Research et al. and Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, et al. v. Consumers’ Research et al. are seeking to overturn a decision in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that deemed the USF violated the nondelegation doctrine, and invalidated the mechanism for how the fund is collected. That decision has not been implemented pending the outcome of the appeal. Oral arguments should occur in March or April.

A key aspect of the case beyond the fight for continued USF support for rural providers is that the nondelegation doctrine has not been relied on by the court to determine an outcome in nearly a century. While this case is important to the telecommunications sector and rural Americans, others are taking an interest in the case due to the possibility of reviving the nondelegation doctrine as a tool to undercut other programs and initiatives.

“This case has substantial implications for the country as a whole—but rural America would bear the brunt of a bad decision most of all,” Bloomfield said. “The brief filed by NCSC and the coalition highlights the importance of connectivity for rural vitality, and rightly raises concerns that many Americans could lose access to telecommunications and essentially be isolated in their communities.”

The brief also emphasizes the potential harm to telehealth and precision agriculture while highlighting that without USF the recent trend of people moving to rural communities to telework will slow or halt.

“USF support is one of the revenue considerations in a lender’s underwriting process for telecom customers. If it goes away, there could be a significant impact on rural telcos’ ability to attract capital and future investment,” NCSC Senior Vice President and Chief Banking Officer Joel Allen said. “The loss of USF support could severely undermine the ability of our members to keep upgrading and expanding broadband connections in unserved and underserved areas.”

The following organizations joined NCSC and CoBank on the brief:

• Center for Rural Affairs
• Communities Unlimited
• Farm Credit Council
• Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union of America
• Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund
• National Association of Rural Health Clinics
• National Cooperative Business Association, CLUSA International
• National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
• National Rural Economic Developers Association
• National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
• National Rural Education Association
• National Rural Health Association
• National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative
• Partners for Rural Transformation
• Rural Community Assistance Partnership