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 Federal  Communications  Commission  FCC  03-  58 
 SEPARATE  STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  JONATHAN  S.  ADELSTEIN 
 RE:  Interim  Contribution  Methodology  Order 
 In  December,  the  Commission  adopted  a  general  prohibition  on  the  recovery  of  amounts  in  excess  of  contribution  obligations  through  federal  universal  service  line-  item  charges. 
 Although  I  did  not  have  the  opportunity  to  vote  that  item,  I  do  support  that  general  prohibition. 


 We  as  a  general  matter  today  are  granting  an  interim,  very  limited  waiver  of  this  prohibition  to  allow  carriers  to  continue  to  apply  an  equivalency  ratio  to  Centrex 
 customers.  We  are  preserving  the  status  quo  for  a  strictly  limited  time  in  order  to  avoid  an  unintended  increase  in  universal  service  pass-  through  charges  on  Centrex  customers 
 including  entities  that  rely  heavily  on  this  service,  such  as  state  governments,  universities,  community  colleges,  libraries,  local  governments,  school  districts  and  certain  not-  for-profit 
 corporations,  including  private  universities  and  health  care  providers. 
 The  record  reflects  the  substantial  rate  increase  these  institutions  would  experience  but  for  our  action  today.  Many  of  these  entities  are  subject  to  budgeting  processes  that  could 
 make  their  very  operation  difficult  in  the  event  of  an  unplanned  increase.  Estimates  are  as  high  as  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  on  an  annual  basis. 


 In  that  this  is  an  interim  waiver,  I  look  forward  to  discussing  the  merits  of  the  petitions  for  reconsideration  with  my  colleagues. 
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