Video Relay Service: Program Funding and Reform

April 23, 2013 – July 29, 2022 R42830

Video Relay Service: Program Funding and
Reform
Updated July 29, 2022
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R42830

Video Relay Service: Program Funding and Reform

Summary
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates a number of disability-related
telecommunications services, including video relay service (VRS). VRS allows persons with
hearing disabilities, using American Sign Language (ASL), to communicate with voice telephone
users through video equipment rather than through typed text. VRS has quickly become a very
popular service, as it offers several features not available with the text-based telecommunications
relay service (TRS).
The FCC has adopted various rules to maintain the quality of VRS service. Now VRS providers
must answer 80% of all VRS calls within 120 seconds. VRS providers must also offer the service
24 hours a day, seven days a week. Additionally, in June 2010, the FCC began a comprehensive
review of the rates, structure, and practices of the VRS program to minimize waste, fraud, and
abuse and update compensation rates that had become inflated above actual cost. Rules in that
proceeding were issued in June 2013. The new rules initiated fundamental restructuring of the
program to support innovation and competition, drive down ratepayer and provider costs,
eliminate incentives for waste, and further protect consumers. In addition, the new rules transition
VRS compensation rates toward actual costs over the next four years, initiating a step-by-step
transition from existing tiered TRS Fund compensation rates toward a unitary, market-based
compensation rate.
On June 30, 2022, the FCC adopted per-minute VRS compensation rates for the 2022-2023 Fund
Year, effective from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. For VRS providers with more than
500,000 monthly minutes, the applicable per-minute VRS compensation rates for this period are:
 $4.82 per completed conversation minute for a provider’s first 1,000,000
monthly minutes (Tier I);
 $3.97 per completed conversation minute for a provider’s monthly minutes
between 1,000,001 and 2,500,000 (Tier II); and
 $2.63 per completed conversation minute for a provider’s monthly minutes
exceeding 2,500,000 (Tier III) (a 7.1% reduction from the 2018-2019 rate of
$2.83).
For VRS providers with 500,000 or fewer monthly minutes (Emergent Tier), the rate for the
2022-2023 Fund Year is $5.29 per minute for the first 500,000 minutes, and the otherwise
applicable tiered formula for monthly minutes exceeding 500,000.
Congressional interest in the VRS program is twofold: eliminating fraud and abuse in the
program and maintaining the usefulness of the program for users. Controversy has arisen over the
latest proposals for change to the program being considered by the FCC. The FCC believes that
rate structure changes are needed to reduce fraud and better manage the VRS program, but the
deaf and hard-of-hearing community is concerned that funding cuts will result in fewer and less-
qualified ASL interpreters. Additionally, the FCC has proposed changing the technologies used to
operate and use the system, but the community is concerned that changes in technology will
decrease the quality of the system as it is now and also potentially pose challenges to some users.
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Video Relay Service: Program Funding and Reform

Introduction: How Video Relay Service Works
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates a number of disability-related
telecommunications services, including video relay service (VRS). VRS is a form of
telecommunications relay service (TRS).1 The service allows persons with hearing disabilities,
using American Sign Language (ASL), to communicate with voice telephone users through video
equipment rather than through typed text. Video equipment links the VRS user with a
“communications assistant” (CA) so that the VRS user and the CA can see and communicate with
each other in signed conversation (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. How Video Relay Service Works

Source: Gallaudet University, “Accessible Emergency Notification and Communication: State of the Science
Conference (Presentation),” http://tap.gallaudet.edu/Emergency/Nov05Conference/Presentations/maddix_files/
textmostly/slide2.html.
VRS has quickly become a very popular service. It offers several features not available with the
text-based TRS:
 People with hearing disabilities can communicate using ASL rather than typing
what they want to say. This allows them to incorporate facial expressions and
body language into their conversations, which cannot be done using text.
 A VRS call is more like a telephone conversation between two hearing persons.
For example, the parties can interrupt each other. The parties cannot interrupt
each other during a traditional TRS call because the parties have to take turns
communicating with the CA.
 Conversation flows more naturally between the parties, so the conversation may
take place more quickly than with TRS.
 VRS calls may be made between ASL users and hearing persons speaking either
English or Spanish.

1 TRS is not specifically addressed in this report. TRS is available to the speech impaired and deaf-blind (telebraille).
VRS is only for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Neither the blind nor the speech impaired would benefit from VRS since
they would not be able to see the operator or speak to the operator, respectively. Information about the TRS program is
available at http://www.fcc.gov/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs. Information about telebraille is available
at http://www.deafblind.com/telebrl.html.
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Video Relay Service: Program Funding and Reform

VRS is different from other forms of TRS in two important ways: (1) the conversation between
the VRS user and the CA is made through a video link and sign language rather than typed text;
and (2) the service relies on the Internet, rather than the public telephone system, for the
connection between the VRS user and the CA. Also, unlike some other forms of TRS, VRS is not
mandatory.
Program Overview
VRS is free to the caller, and VRS providers are reimbursed for their costs from the TRS Fund.
Management
Since July 1, 2011, the TRS Fund has been administered by Rolka Loube Saltzer Associates, LLC
(RLSA). Prior to that date, the fund was administered by the National Exchange Carriers
Association.
VRS Provider Service Standards
VRS providers are subject to certain requirements and prohibitions:
 Eighty percent of all VRS calls must be answered within 120 seconds.
 Service must be offered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
 VRS providers must provide their users with a 10-digit telephone number, so
users will be able to make 911 calls and have their location data routed to the
appropriate emergency agency.
 Preferential treatment of calls is prohibited. VRS (and TRS) providers must
handle calls in the order in which they are received. They cannot selectively
answer calls from certain consumers or certain locations.
 Equipment distributed by a certified VRS provider must be interoperable with the
technology of other certified VRS providers.
 VRS (and TRS) providers may not offer financial incentives to use their service
or to make more or longer VRS (or TRS) calls.
Funding Source
The VRS program is funded through the larger TRS Fund. The TRS Fund2 is a revolving fund
financed through contributions by all providers of interstate telecommunications services.3
Contributions are based on a “contribution factor” that is set on an annual basis by the FCC.

2 The TRS Fund is similar to another FCC program, the Universal Service Fund (USF). For information on the USF,
see CRS Report RL33979, Universal Service Fund: Background and Options for Reform, by Angele A. Gilroy.
3 Contributions are made by all carriers who provide interstate services, including, but not limited to, cellular telephone
and paging, mobile radio, operator services, personal communications service, access (including subscriber line
charges), alternative access and special access, packet-switched, WATS, 800, 900, message telephone service, private
line, telex, telegraph, video, satellite, intraLATA, and international and resale services.
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Video Relay Service: Program Funding and Reform

Provider Contributions, Compensation, and Reimbursement
On June 30, 2022, the FCC adopted per-minute VRS compensation rates for the 2022-2023 Fund
Year, effective from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.4 For VRS providers with more than
500,000 monthly minutes, the applicable per-minute VRS compensation rates for this period are:
 $4.82 per completed conversation minute for a provider’s first 1,000,000
monthly minutes (Tier I);
 $3.97 per completed conversation minute for a provider’s monthly minutes
between 1,000,001 and 2,500,000 (Tier II); and
 $2.63 per completed conversation minute for a provider’s monthly minutes
exceeding 2,500,000 (Tier III) (a 7.1% reduction from the 2018-2019 rate of
$2.83).
For VRS providers with 500,000 or fewer monthly minutes (Emergent Tier), the rate for the
2022-2023 Fund Year is $5.29 per minute for the first 500,000 minutes, and the otherwise
applicable tiered formula for monthly minutes exceeding 500,000.
Policy Considerations
The FCC has implemented changes to the VRS program to reduce fraud and abuse, better manage
the amount of money that is collected to fund the program, and take advantage of technological
advancements.
The primary concern of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community appears to be that cuts to the
fund may result in fewer and less-qualified ASL interpreters, which would decrease the functional
equivalency of the service. Additionally, it is concerned that changes in technology—even
“better” technology—will decrease competition among service providers, possibly decreasing
innovation. Moreover, the community believes that changes in the technology could pose
challenges to some users and make placing and receiving calls more difficult.
Congressional Considerations
The deaf and hard-of-hearing community will likely continue to contact Congress whenever
changes are proposed for the VRS program. The community relies heavily on the program, so it is
understandable that they might view any proposed changes with concern. However, the FCC also
has a responsibility to make sure that the fund remains solvent and to take advantage of advances
in technology that it has determined will improve the system. Congress may wish to monitor the
current proposed changes to the system to ensure that the FCC, while working to modernize TRS
technology and minimize financial abuse, also gives full consideration to the concerns of the deaf
and hard-of-hearing community.

4 Federal Communications Commission, In the Matter of Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech
Services for Individuals with Hearing and Speech Disabilities (CG Docket No. 03-123) and Structure and Practices of
the Video Relay Service Program (CG Docket No. 10-51), Order, June 30, 2022, https://docs.fcc.gov/public/
attachments/DA-22-699A1.pdf.
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Video Relay Service: Program Funding and Reform

Author Information

Patricia Moloney Figliola

Specialist in Internet and Telecommunications
Policy

Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan
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under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other
than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in
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