(a) The General Assembly finds and declares that it is in the public interest to provide basic telecommunication services to all citizens of this state who, because of physical impairments, particularly hearing and speech impairments, cannot otherwise communicate over the telephone.

(b) The commission shall establish, implement, administer, and promote a state-wide single provider dual party relay service operating seven days per week, 24 hours per day, and contract for the administration and operation of such relay service.

(c) The commission shall require all local exchange telephone companies in this state, except those operated by telephone membership corporations, to impose a monthly maintenance surcharge on all residential and business local exchange access facilities. For the purpose of this subsection, "exchange access facility" means the access from a particular telephone subscriber's premise to the telephone system of a local exchange telephone company. "Exchange access facility" includes local exchange company provided access lines, private branch exchange trunks, and centrex network access registers, all as defined by tariffs of telephone companies as approved by the commission. The amount of the surcharge shall be determined by the commission based upon the amount of funding necessary to accomplish the purposes of this Code section and provide the services on an ongoing basis; however, in no case shall the amount exceed 20¢ per month. No additional fees other than the surcharge authorized by this subsection shall be imposed on any user of such relay service. The local exchange companies shall collect the surcharge from their customers and transfer the monies collected to a special fund to be held separate from all other funds. The fund shall be used solely for the administration and operation of the relay service and shall not be used for the distribution of telecommunication devices for the deaf or similar such devices or be imposed, collected, or expended for any other purpose.

(d) The dual party relay system shall protect the privacy of persons to whom relay services are provided and shall require all operators to maintain the confidentiality of all telephone messages. The confidentiality and privacy of persons to whom relay services are provided will be protected by means of the following:

(1) The relay center shall not maintain any form of permanent copies of messages relayed by their operators or allow the content of telephone messages to be communicated to, or accessible to, nonstaff members;

(2) Persons using the relay services shall not be required to provide any personal identifying information until the party they are calling is on the line, and shall only be required to identify themselves to the extent necessary to fulfill the purpose of their call;

(3) Relay operators shall not leave messages with third parties unless instructed to do so by the person making the call;

(4) Relay operators shall not intentionally alter a relayed conversation; and (5) Relay operators shall not refuse calls or limit the length of calls.

(e) Neither the commission nor the provider of the dual party relay system service nor, except in cases of willful misconduct, gross negligence, or bad faith, the employees of the provider of the dual party relay system service shall be liable for any claims, actions, damages, or causes of action arising out of or resulting from the establishment, participation in, or operation of the dual party relay system service.

(f) The commission shall select the telecommunications carrier which will provide the relay system service and award the contract for this service to the offerer whose proposal is the most advantageous to the state, considering price, the interests of the hearing impaired and speech impaired community in having access to a high quality and technologically advanced telecommunication system, and all other factors listed in the commission's request for proposals.

(g) The commission shall provide that the dual party telephone relay telephone system shall be operational no later than July 1, 1991.