47 U.S.C. § 1008 — Payment of costs of telecommunications carriers to comply with capability requirements

(a) Equipment, facilities, and services deployed on or before January 1, 1995. Subject to available appropriations, the Attorney General may agree to pay carriers all reasonable costs directly connected with modifications they make to equipment, facilities, and services installed or deployed by January 1, 1995, to establish capabilities required by section 1002. (b) Equipment, facilities, and services deployed after January 1, 1995. (1) Determinations of reasonably achievable. On a petition from a carrier or another interested person, and after notifying the Attorney General, the Commission^* must decide whether section 1002 compliance is reasonably achievable for equipment, a facility, or a service installed or deployed after January 1, 1995. It must decide within 1 year after the petition is filed. It must decide whether compliance would impose significant difficulty or expense on the carrier or system users and consider: (A) public safety and national security; (B) basic residential telephone-service rates; (C) privacy and security of communications not authorized for interception; (D) cost-effective ways to achieve section 1002 capabilities; (E) the equipment, facility, or service’s nature and cost; (F) its operation; (G) United States policy encouraging new technologies and services; (H) the carrier’s financial resources; (I) competition in telecommunications services; (J) how much design and development began before January 1, 1995; and (K) other factors the Commission finds appropriate. (2) Compensation. If compliance is not reasonably achievable for post-January 1, 1995 equipment, facilities, or services: (A) on a carrier’s application, the Attorney General may, subject to appropriations, agree to pay the additional reasonable costs of making compliance reasonably achievable; and (B) if the Attorney General does not agree to pay, the carrier is treated as complying. (c) Allocation of funds for payment. The Attorney General must distribute appropriated funds under this subchapter according to law-enforcement priorities the Attorney General determines. (d) Failure to make payment for older equipment. If a carrier requests payment under procedures issued under subsection (e), and the Attorney General has not agreed to pay all reasonable costs directly connected with necessary modifications to older equipment, facilities, or services, they are treated as compliant until replaced, significantly upgraded, or otherwise substantially modified. (e) Cost control regulations. (1) In general. After notice and an opportunity for comment, the Attorney General must issue regulations needed for timely, cost-efficient payments to carriers under this subchapter, chapters 119 and 121 of title 18, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.). (2) Contents. After consulting the Commission, the Attorney General must issue regulations for deciding reasonable costs. They must seek to minimize Federal cost and: (A) permit recovery of (i) direct costs of developing subsection (a) modifications, providing subsection (b)(2) capabilities, or providing section 1003(e) capacities, but only costs not recovered from another government^* or nongovernment entity; (ii) personnel training costs; and (iii) direct deployment or installation costs; (B) for a modification usable for purposes other than lawful government electronic surveillance, permit recovery only of the extra cost of making it suitable for law enforcement; and (C) protect trade-secret confidentiality. (3) Submission of claims. The regulations must require a carrier that the Attorney General agreed to pay for a modification and that installed or deployed it to submit a payment claim containing, or accompanied by, information the Attorney General requires.