§ 39-1-42. Access to telephone information services for persons with disabilities.
(a) The public utilities commission shall establish, administer, and promote an information
accessibility service that includes:
(1) A statewide telephone relay service and, through the competitive bidding process,
contract for the administration and operation of such a relay system for utilization
of the telecommunications network by persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, and speech
impaired;
(2) The adaptive telephone equipment loan program capable of servicing the needs of persons
who are deaf, hard of hearing, severely speech impaired, or those with neuromuscular
impairments for use with a single-party telephone line, or wireless telephone, to
any subscriber who is certified as deaf, hard of hearing, severely speech impaired,
or with neuromuscular impairments by a licensed physician, audiologist, speech pathologist,
or a qualified state agency, pursuant to chapter 23 of this title; and
(3) A telephone access to the text of newspaper programs to residents who are blind, deaf
or blind, visually impaired, or reading impaired with a single-party telephone line.
(b) The commission shall establish, by rule or regulation, an appropriate funding mechanism
to recover the costs of providing this service from each residence and business telephone
access line or trunk in the state, including PBX trunks and centrex equivalent trunks
and each service line or trunk, and upon each user interface number or extension number
or similarly identifiable line, trunk, or path to or from a digital network. Notwithstanding
the foregoing, there shall not be any additional funding mechanism used to charge
each residence and business telephone access line or trunk in the state, including
PBX trunks and centrex equivalent trunks and each service line or trunk, or upon each
user interface number or extension number or similarly identifiable line, trunk, or
path to or from a digital network, to recover the costs of providing the services
outlined in subsection (a)(1), (2) or (3) above.
(c) The commission, with the assistance of the state commission on the deaf and hard of
hearing, shall also develop the appropriate rules, regulations, and service standards
necessary to implement the provisions of subsection (a)(1). At a minimum, however,
the commission shall require, under the terms of the contract, that the relay service
provider:
(1) Offer its relay services seven (7) days a week, twenty-four (24) hours a day, including
holidays;
(2) Hire only qualified salaried operators with deaf language skills; and
(3) Maintain the confidentiality of all communications.
(d) The commission shall collect from the telecommunications service providers the amounts
of the surcharge collected from their subscribers and remit to the department of human
services an additional ten thousand dollars ($10,000) annually commencing in fiscal
year 2005 for the adaptive telephone equipment loan program and forty thousand dollars
($40,000) to the department of human services for the establishment of a new telephone
access to the text of newspaper programs. In addition, one hundred thousand dollars
($100,000) shall annually be remitted to the Rhode Island commission on the deaf and
hard of hearing for an emergency and public communication access program, pursuant
to § 23-1.8-4. The surcharge referenced hereunder shall be generated from existing funding mechanisms
and shall not be generated as a result of any new funding mechanisms charged to each
residence and business telephone access line or trunk in the state, including PBX
trunks and centrex equivalent trunks and each service line or trunk, or upon each
user interface number or extension number or similarly identifiable line, trunk, or
path to or from a digital network.