Staff Analysis: Rule
25-4.0161, Florida Administrative Code, which implements Section 364.336,
Florida Statutes, requires the payment of Regulatory Assessment Fees by January
30 of the subsequent year for telecommunications companies, and provides for
late payment charges as outlined in Section 350.113, Florida Statutes, for any
delinquent amounts.
Rule 25-24.514(2), Florida Administrative
Code, Cancellation of a Certificate, provides that pay telephone companies must
request cancellation from the Commission in writing and either pay the current
year’s Regulatory Assessment Fee or provide the date it will be paid.
On December 12, 2003, the Division of the Commission Clerk
& Administrative Services mailed the 2003 Regulatory Assessment Fee return
notice to the companies listed on Attachment A. Payment of the Regulatory
Assessment Fee was due by January 30, 2004. The Commission received
correspondence from each of the companies listed on Attachment A, which
requested cancellation of their respective certificates. Staff wrote each of
the companies listed on Attachment A and explained that staff could not
recommend a voluntary cancellation until each company complied with the
Regulatory Assessment Fee and Cancellation rules. As of July 8, 2004, none of the companies listed on Attachment A have fully complied with Rules 25-4.0161
and 25-24.514(2), Florida Administrative Code.
The Commission is vested with jurisdiction over these matters
pursuant to Sections 364.285, 364.336, and 364.3375, Florida Statutes.
Pursuant to Section 364.336, Florida Statutes, cancellation of an entity’s
certificate does not relieve the company’s obligation to pay Regulatory
Assessment Fees, including statutory penalty and interest charges, if the
certificate was active during any portion of the calendar year, including the
cancellation year. Therefore, staff recommends that the Commission deny the
companies listed on Attachment A voluntary cancellation of their respective
certificates and instead, on the Commission’s own motion, cancel the companies
respective certificates with prejudice.
Issue
2: Should these
dockets be closed?
Recommendation: Staff
recommends that the Order issued from this recommendation will become final and
effective upon issuance of a Consummating Order, unless a person whose
substantial interests are affected by the Commission’s decision files a protest
that identifies with specificity the issues in dispute, in the form provided by
Rule 28-106.201, Florida Administrative Code, within 21 days of the issuance of
the Proposed Agency Action Order. As provided by Section 120.80(13)(b),
Florida Statutes, any issues not in dispute should be deemed stipulated. If
any company listed on Attachment A fails to timely file a protest and to
request a Section 120.57, Florida Statutes, hearing, the facts should be deemed
admitted and the right to a hearing waived. If any company listed on
Attachment A fails to pay the Regulatory Assessment Fees, including statutory
late payment charges, within fourteen (14) calendar days after the issuance of
the Consummating Order, each company’s respective certificate, as listed on
Attachment A, should be cancelled administratively and the collection of the
past due fees should be referred to the Department of Financial Services for
further collection efforts. If any company’s certificate as listed on
Attachment A is cancelled in accordance with the Commission’s Order from this
recommendation, the respective company should be required to immediately cease
and desist providing pay telephone services in Florida. A protest in one
docket should not prevent the action in a separate docket from becoming final.
(Rojas; Rockette-Gray; Scott)
Staff Analysis: Staff
recommends that the Commission take action as set forth in the foregoing staff
recommendation statement.
Provider Cert.
Effective Date RAF/P&I
Docket No. RAF
Information No. of Cancellation Owed
040399-TC Gene McDonald d/b/a 3608 03/09/04 2004-RAF
McDonald
Communications
$1,439
Revenues for Period Ended 12/31/03
040402-TC Keith R. Zinke & Michael Singletary 5577 02/25/04 1998-P&I
d/b/a
Communication Partners 2003-RAF
2003-P&I
$14,654
Revenues for Period Ended 12/31/02 2004-RAF
040404-TC Payphone
Partners, Inc. 7829 03/10/04 2003-RAF
2003-P&I
$5,805
Revenues for Period Ended 12/31/02 2004-RAF
040405-TC Roberta Rich d/b/a
Street Phones Co 8202 12/22/03 2003-RAF
2003-P&I
$0
Revenues for Period Ended 12/31/02