Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Providers Requesting Compensation from the Interstate TRS Fund Must Comply with Standard Rounding Principles in Measuring the Conversation Time of TRS Calls, 28046-28047 [E9-13718]

Download as PDF 28046 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 112 / Friday, June 12, 2009 / Notices 07/13/2009, Contact: Emmanuel Sayoc 301–415–2989 EIS No. 20090184, Final EIS, DOA, ID, Lakeview-Reeder Fuels Reduction Project, Proposed Fuels Reduction and Road Treatment Activities, Idaho Panhandle National Forests, Priest Lake Ranger District, Bonner County, ID, Wait Period Ends: 07/13/2009, Contact: David Cobb 208–443–6854 EIS No. 20090185, Final EIS, COE, 00, Programmatic—Oyster Restoration in Chesapeake Bay Including the Use of a Native and/or Nonnative Oyster, Implementation, Chesapeake Bay, MD and VA, Wait Period Ends: 07/13/ 2009, Contact: Craig Seltzer 757–201– 7390 EIS No. 20090186, Final EIS, FRC, CA, South Feather Power Project, (Project No. 2099–068), Application to Relicense its 104-megawatt, South Fork Feather River, Lost Creek and Slate Creek, Butte, Yuba, and Plumas Counties, CA, Wait Period Ends: 07/ 13/2009, Contact: John Mudre 202– 502–8902 EIS No. 20090187, Final EIS, CDG, 00, Programmatic—Future of the U.S. Coast Guard Long Range Aids to Navigation (LORAN–C) Program, Implementation,, Wait Period Ends: 07/13/2009, Contact: CDR Bob I. Feigenblatt 202–372–1558 Dated: June 9, 2009. Robert W. Hargrove, Director, NEPA Compliance Division, Office of Federal Activities. [FR Doc. E9–13862 Filed 6–11–09; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560–50–P EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION Commission Meeting AGENCY HOLDING THE MEETING: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. DATE AND TIME: Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 10 a.m. Eastern Time. PLACE: Commission Meeting Room on the First Floor of the EEOC Office Building, 131 M Street, NE., Washington, DC 20507. STATUS: The meeting will be open to the public. MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: OPEN SESSION: 1. Announcement of Notation Votes, and 2. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)Amendments Act of 2008. Note: In accordance with the Sunshine Act, the meeting will be open to public observation of the Commission’s VerDate Nov<24>2008 17:53 Jun 11, 2009 Jkt 217001 deliberations and voting. (In addition to publishing notices on EEOC Commission meetings in the Federal Register, the Commission also provides a recorded announcement a full week in advance on future Commission sessions.) Please telephone (202) 663–7100 (voice) and (202) 663–4074 (TTY) at any time for information on these meetings. The EEOC provides sign language interpretation at Commission meetings for the hearing impaired. Requests for other reasonable accommodations may be made by using the voice and TTY numbers listed above. Contact Person for More Information: Stephen Llewellyn, Executive Officer on (202) 663– 4070. Dated: June 8, 2009. Stephen Llewellyn, Executive Officer, Executive Secretariat. [FR Doc. E9–13822 Filed 6–11–09; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6570–01–P FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Public Information Collections Approved by Office of Management and Budget June 9, 2009. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for the following public information collection pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104–13. An agency may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid control number. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact Judith B. Herman, Federal Communications Commission, at (202) 418–0214 or via the Internet at JudithB.Herman@fcc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OMB Control No.: 3060–0999. Expiration Date: 06/30/2012. Title: Hearing Aid Compatibility Status Report and Section 20.19, Hearing Aid-Compatible Mobile Handsets (Hearing Aid Compatibility Act). Form No.: FCC Form 655—electronic only. Estimated Annual Burden: 925 responses; 12,063 total annual hours; 2.5 hours per response. Needs and Uses: In the Report and Order in WT Docket 01–309, FCC 03– 168, adopted and released in September 2003, the Federal Communications Commission modified the exemption for telephones used with public mobile services from the requirements of the Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988 PO 00000 Frm 00052 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 (HAC Act). The Order required digital wireless phone manufacturers and service providers to make certain digital wireless phones capable of effective use with hearing aids, label certain phones they sold with information about their compatibility with hearing aids, and report to the Commission (at first every six months, then on an annual basis) on the numbers and types of hearing aid compatible phones they were producing or offering to the public. In February 2008, the Commission adopted final rules in a Report and Order (FCC 08–68) that updated several performance benchmarks and instituted new requirements. To assist the Commission in monitoring the implementation of the new requirements and to provide information to the public, the Report and Order also required manufacturers and service providers to continue to file annual reports on the status of their compliance with the requirements, and required manufacturers and service providers that maintain public websites to publish up-to-date information on those websites regarding their hearing aid-compatible handset models. Now, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden, the Commission is eliminating the use of paper-based annual reports and will require annual reports filed by manufacturers and service providers to be submitted using electronic FCC Form 655 beginning July 15, 2009. Use of the electronic FCC Form 655 will help filers ensure that their reports include all of the required information, will facilitate the Commission’s compilation of data from the reports, and will decrease the paperwork burden overall. Federal Communications Commission. Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary. [FR Doc. E9–13945 Filed 6–11–09; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6712–01–P FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION [CG Docket No. 03–123; DA 09–211] Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Providers Requesting Compensation from the Interstate TRS Fund Must Comply with Standard Rounding Principles in Measuring the Conversation Time of TRS Calls AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission states that current rules E:\FR\FM\12JNN1.SGM 12JNN1 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 112 / Friday, June 12, 2009 / Notices require that telecommunications relay service (TRS) providers submitting minutes for payment from the Interstate TRS Fund must measure the conversation time of each call to the nearest second, and when the time for such calls is expressed in decimal form, the TRS provider must round the time to the nearest tenth of a minute. DATES: Effective June 12, 2009. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Chandler, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, Disability Rights Office at (202) 418–1475 (Voice), (202) 418–0597 (TTY), or e-mail at Thomas.Chandler@fcc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission’s document DA 09–211, released February 10, 2009, addressing the proper accounting practice to be followed in rounding conversation minutes when seeking compensation for TRS service. Specifically, the Notice states that TRS providers must comply with standard rounding principles in measuring the conversation time of TRS calls. The full text of document DA 09– 211 and copies of any subsequently filed documents in this matter will be available for public inspection and copying during regular business hours at the FCC Reference Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY–A257, Washington, DC 20554. Document DA 09–211 and copies of subsequently filed documents in this matter may also be purchased from the Commission’s duplicating contractor at Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY–B402, Washington, DC 20554. Customers may contact the Commission’s duplicating contractor at its Web site https://www.bcpiweb.com or by calling 1–800–378–3160. To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418–0530 (voice), (202) 418–0432 (TTY). Document DA 09–211 can also be downloaded in Word or Portable Document Format (PDF) at: https://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro. Synopsis It has come to the Commission’s attention that certain telecommunications relay service (TRS) providers may be improperly ‘‘rounding’’ up conversation minutes that are submitted to the Interstate TRS Fund (Fund) each month for payment. Providers submitting minutes for payment from the Fund must measure the conversation time of each call to the nearest second, and when the time for VerDate Nov<24>2008 18:56 Jun 11, 2009 Jkt 217001 such calls is expressed in decimal form, the relay provider must round the time to the nearest tenth of a minute, as set forth below. Specifically, when recording the actual conversation time of each completed call, the decimal representation of the seconds should extend to the tenth of a minute; providers may round up only in those circumstances where the number in the hundredth place is 5 or greater. If the number in the hundredth place is not 5 or greater, then the number in the tenth place remains the same. For example, if the actual conversation time is 34 minutes and 46 seconds, the decimal expression to the hundredth place is 34.76. Because the number in the hundredth place (6) is 5 or greater, the number in the tenth place (7) may be rounded up to 8. Therefore, the actual conversation time, rounded to the nearest one-tenth of a minute and used to calculate total monthly conversation minutes, is 34.8 minutes. A contrasting example, where rounding up is not appropriate, is a situation where the actual conversation time is 34 minutes and 32 seconds. For such a call, the decimal expression to the hundredth place is 34.53. Because the number in the hundredth place (3) is less than 5, the number in the tenth place (5) remains the same and the actual conversation time used to calculate total monthly conversation minutes is 34.5 minutes. In determining total monthly conversation minutes reported to NECA, the total conversation minutes of all eligible calls (each measured to the tenth of a minute, as described above) are added together. That total is then rounded to the nearest whole number (full minute) under the same principle set forth above. For instance, if the total number of conversation minutes for all calls in a particular month is 123,456.8, that figure would be rounded up to 123,457. Similarly, if the figure was 123,456.4, the figure would be rounded down to 123,456. For the past several years, NECA has provided TRS providers with instructions for reporting minutes. Interstate Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund Instructions for Reporting Minutes Monthly (August 2004) (Reporting Instructions). In the instructions, National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA), the Fund Administrator, advises that the actual conversation time of each completed call, in minutes/seconds or minutes/ tenths, should be recorded during the month, and at the end of the month, the provider should total the minutes/ seconds or minutes/tenths for each type PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 28047 of call by center and round to the nearest whole number. The Reporting Instructions provide examples of how these rounding principles apply in determining total monthly minutes, stating that: (1) A monthly total of 180,095 minutes and 41 seconds, or 180,095.68 minutes, would be rounded up to 180,096; and (2) a monthly total of 2,437 minutes and 15 seconds, or 2,437.25 minutes, would be rounded down to 2,437. The examples set forth herein are consistent with these instructions and standard rounding principles. Therefore, unless and until directed otherwise, TRS providers should follow the guidelines provided in NECA’s Reporting Instructions and in this document. Federal Communications Commission. Suzanne M. Tetreault, Acting Deputy Chief, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. [FR Doc. E9–13718 Filed 6–11–09; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6712–01–P FEDERAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS ADVISORY BOARD Release of Exposure Draft of Technical Bulletin 2009–1: Deferral of the Effective Date of Technical Bulletin 2006–1, Recognition and Measurement of Asbestos-Related Cleanup Costs AGENCY: Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board. ACTION: Notice of Release of Exposure Draft of Technical Bulletin 2009–1, Deferral of the Effective Date of Technical Bulletin 2006–1, Recognition and Measurement of Asbestos-Related Cleanup Costs. Board Action: Pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3511(d), the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92–463), as amended, and the FASAB Rules of Procedure, as amended in April 2004, notice is hereby given that the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) has released the Exposure Draft of Technical Bulletin 2009–1, Deferral of the Effective Date of Technical Bulletin 2006–1, Recognition and Measurement of Asbestos-Related Cleanup Costs. The purpose of this proposed technical bulletin is to defer the effective date of Technical Bulletin 2006–1, Recognition and Measurement of Asbestos-Related Cleanup Costs, for two years. The Technical Bulletin 2009–1 Exposure Draft is available on the FASAB home page https:// www.fasab.gov/exposure.html. Copies E:\FR\FM\12JNN1.SGM 12JNN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 112 (Friday, June 12, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28046-28047]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-13718]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[CG Docket No. 03-123; DA 09-211]


Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Providers Requesting 
Compensation from the Interstate TRS Fund Must Comply with Standard 
Rounding Principles in Measuring the Conversation Time of TRS Calls

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission states that current rules

[[Page 28047]]

require that telecommunications relay service (TRS) providers 
submitting minutes for payment from the Interstate TRS Fund must 
measure the conversation time of each call to the nearest second, and 
when the time for such calls is expressed in decimal form, the TRS 
provider must round the time to the nearest tenth of a minute.

DATES: Effective June 12, 2009.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Chandler, Consumer and 
Governmental Affairs Bureau, Disability Rights Office at (202) 418-1475 
(Voice), (202) 418-0597 (TTY), or e-mail at Thomas.Chandler@fcc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's 
document DA 09-211, released February 10, 2009, addressing the proper 
accounting practice to be followed in rounding conversation minutes 
when seeking compensation for TRS service. Specifically, the Notice 
states that TRS providers must comply with standard rounding principles 
in measuring the conversation time of TRS calls. The full text of 
document DA 09-211 and copies of any subsequently filed documents in 
this matter will be available for public inspection and copying during 
regular business hours at the FCC Reference Information Center, Portals 
II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554. Document 
DA 09-211 and copies of subsequently filed documents in this matter may 
also be purchased from the Commission's duplicating contractor at 
Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554. 
Customers may contact the Commission's duplicating contractor at its 
Web site https://www.bcpiweb.com or by calling 1-800-378-3160. To 
request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities 
(Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an e-mail 
to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau 
at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 (TTY). Document DA 09-211 can 
also be downloaded in Word or Portable Document Format (PDF) at: https://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro.

Synopsis

    It has come to the Commission's attention that certain 
telecommunications relay service (TRS) providers may be improperly 
``rounding'' up conversation minutes that are submitted to the 
Interstate TRS Fund (Fund) each month for payment. Providers submitting 
minutes for payment from the Fund must measure the conversation time of 
each call to the nearest second, and when the time for such calls is 
expressed in decimal form, the relay provider must round the time to 
the nearest tenth of a minute, as set forth below.
    Specifically, when recording the actual conversation time of each 
completed call, the decimal representation of the seconds should extend 
to the tenth of a minute; providers may round up only in those 
circumstances where the number in the hundredth place is 5 or greater. 
If the number in the hundredth place is not 5 or greater, then the 
number in the tenth place remains the same.
    For example, if the actual conversation time is 34 minutes and 46 
seconds, the decimal expression to the hundredth place is 34.76. 
Because the number in the hundredth place (6) is 5 or greater, the 
number in the tenth place (7) may be rounded up to 8. Therefore, the 
actual conversation time, rounded to the nearest one-tenth of a minute 
and used to calculate total monthly conversation minutes, is 34.8 
minutes. A contrasting example, where rounding up is not appropriate, 
is a situation where the actual conversation time is 34 minutes and 32 
seconds. For such a call, the decimal expression to the hundredth place 
is 34.53. Because the number in the hundredth place (3) is less than 5, 
the number in the tenth place (5) remains the same and the actual 
conversation time used to calculate total monthly conversation minutes 
is 34.5 minutes.
    In determining total monthly conversation minutes reported to NECA, 
the total conversation minutes of all eligible calls (each measured to 
the tenth of a minute, as described above) are added together. That 
total is then rounded to the nearest whole number (full minute) under 
the same principle set forth above. For instance, if the total number 
of conversation minutes for all calls in a particular month is 
123,456.8, that figure would be rounded up to 123,457. Similarly, if 
the figure was 123,456.4, the figure would be rounded down to 123,456.
    For the past several years, NECA has provided TRS providers with 
instructions for reporting minutes. Interstate Telecommunications Relay 
Service (TRS) Fund Instructions for Reporting Minutes Monthly (August 
2004) (Reporting Instructions). In the instructions, National Exchange 
Carrier Association (NECA), the Fund Administrator, advises that the 
actual conversation time of each completed call, in minutes/seconds or 
minutes/tenths, should be recorded during the month, and at the end of 
the month, the provider should total the minutes/seconds or minutes/
tenths for each type of call by center and round to the nearest whole 
number. The Reporting Instructions provide examples of how these 
rounding principles apply in determining total monthly minutes, stating 
that: (1) A monthly total of 180,095 minutes and 41 seconds, or 
180,095.68 minutes, would be rounded up to 180,096; and (2) a monthly 
total of 2,437 minutes and 15 seconds, or 2,437.25 minutes, would be 
rounded down to 2,437.
    The examples set forth herein are consistent with these 
instructions and standard rounding principles.
    Therefore, unless and until directed otherwise, TRS providers 
should follow the guidelines provided in NECA's Reporting Instructions 
and in this document.

Federal Communications Commission.
Suzanne M. Tetreault,
Acting Deputy Chief, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau.
[FR Doc. E9-13718 Filed 6-11-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P
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