Texas Urges Court to Stop RLECs' USF Suit

Telcos’ Texas USF lawsuit against the Public Utility Commission “is precisely the type of suit that sovereign immunity is designed to prevent,” said the PUC and the Texas attorney general office in a Thursday brief at the Texas Appeals Court for the 3rd Judicial District in Austin. Appellants seek to control how the PUC exercises discretionary authority from the legislature, effectively asking the court “to compel the PUC to nearly double the assessment rate imposed on Texans to fund the TUSF,” they said in a brief provided by plaintiff Texas Statewide Telephone Cooperative. The state appellees asked the court to affirm a lower court’s ruling to dismiss the rural LECs' complaint about the PUC not fully funding state USF (see 2106210048). TSTCI is reviewing the brief, CEO Weldon Gray said Thursday.