53-19-311. Special assessment. - Montana Statutes

     53-19-311. Special assessment. (1) A fee of 10 cents a month must be assessed on each end user connection provided and billed or any prepaid options by each service provider and is imposed for the purposes of this part.
     (2) Each subscriber of a service provider is liable for payment to the service provider of any fee properly imposed pursuant to this part. The service provider is not liable for any uncollected fee, nor does the service provider have an obligation to take legal action to enforce the collection of any fee that is unpaid by its subscribers.
     (3) (a) Each service provider that periodically bills subscribers for its services shall bill each subscriber for the fee provided for in subsection (1). For subscribers who are not billed periodically, including but not limited to subscribers who purchase prepaid wireless telecommunication services for a flat fee, the service provider shall include in the price of the service a fee of 10 cents for each 30-day period during which the subscriber is authorized to use the service or a prepaid wireless telephone service provider shall remit an amount equal to the fees established in subsection (1) after collecting the amount using one of the following options:
     (i) on a monthly basis, the prepaid service provider shall collect an amount equal to the fees established in subsection (1) from each active prepaid subscriber whose account balance is equal to or greater than the fees established in subsection (1); or
     (ii) the prepaid service provider shall divide the total intrastate monthly revenue by the average revenue for each prepaid subscriber of the wireless industry to determine the number of prepaid subscribers. The fees established in subsection (1) are then applied to the number of prepaid subscribers.
     (b) Each service provider shall file a return provided by the department reporting the amount of fees collected on access line services during the quarter. Except as provided in subsection (4), all fees collected by a service provider must be transmitted to the department no later than the last day of the month following the end of each calendar quarter in which the fees are collected. All fees received by the department must be deposited in the account established in 53-19-310 to the credit of the committee.
     (4) Each service provider may deduct and retain 3/4 of 1% of the total fees collected each month to cover its administrative expenses in complying with the requirements of subsection (3).

     History: En. Sec. 12, Ch. 669, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 417, L. 2003; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 325, L. 2007.