A Republican Senate bill would change how the...

last week. Ayotte has on multiple occasions in the past year criticized the USF, in particular the amount of money New Hampshire receives relative to its contributions to the fund. The bill’s purpose, according to its text, is “to provide for the equitable distribution of Universal Service funds to rural States.” The short piece of legislation provides for changes to the Communications Act of 1934, proposing the following language be added: “Not less than 75 percent of all amounts collected by providers of interstate telecommunications from consumers in a rural State for the purpose of making contributions … shall be allocated to the provision of universal service to consumers in that rural State.” An aide to Ayotte told us Friday that New Hampshire is a huge net-donor to the USF, receiving fewer than 40 cents for every dollar it contributes, whereas most other rural states are big net-recipients of the USF. The Ayotte bill won’t increase the size of the USF, the aide added. A rural state is defined as one in which “the total population density is not more than 200 people per square mile,” according to the bill. The FCC declined comment on the legislation. FairPoint applauds Ayotte’s efforts “to raise awareness” of areas that don’t see a good return on their USF contributions as well as the bill’s efforts to “remedy the situation” and help create “a fair distribution of USF-based funds,” a spokeswoman for the telco told us. FairPoint offers service in many rural markets across 17 states and serves New Hampshire. S-1766 lists no co-sponsors and is referred to the Commerce Committee.