Any applicant or service provider who is convicted of criminal violations of eRate policies or held civilly liable for eRate misconduct will be banned from participating in the program for three or more years, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled April 23 at an open meeting in Washington, D.C.

The commission also ruled that wireless connectivity is eligible for eRate funding.

The agency's decision regarding so-called "bad actors" comes as allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse threaten to derail the $2.25 billion-a-year program, which provides telecommunications discounts to schools and libraries.

"Debarring those who have shown themselves as 'bad actors' is an important step in protecting the integrity of the program and deterring others with bad intent," said Romanda Williams, staff attorney for the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau, who presented the new rules.

Said FCC Chairman Michael Powell: "It's very important that we have taken a much tougher and increasingly stronger stand against those who would abuse, waste, create fraud, and really are stealing the fruits of this program away from our children. I think it's a heinous misuse of the public trust."

The FCC commissioners expressed unanimous support for the eRate program and its success, but they agreed more work still needs to be done to make the program more efficient and effective.

"When this program was started, we didn't appreciate all the ways one might manipulate our rules, and that's what we're learning here. We're learning ways to make them better," said Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy.

The agency's ruling takes a step toward preventing waste, fraud, and abuse, but it marks only the first in a series of comprehensive reforms the FCC will undertake.

"Great programs like the eRate do not thrive without regular care and review. The gains we have made can vanish without continued attention and, indeed, without ongoing vigilance, and that's why our actions today are so important," Commissioner Michael Copps said.

For example, a bill introduced into the House of Representatives in March, called the eRate Termination Act, would kill the eRate. Sponsored by Colorado Republican Tom Tancredo, the measure would end the eRate immediately and remove all mention of it from the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the law that authorizes the program.

Tancredo's bill is the most extreme in a series of actions in the House following recent reports of widespread eRate abuse from the FCC's Office of Inspector General and the Center for Public Integrity. The report was not the sole motivation for Tancredo, however, because he introduced a nearly identical bill several years ago.

Two other House Republicans, on the other hand, come more recently to the cause. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., and Rep. James Greenwood, R-Pa., who heads that committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee, have launched an investigation into the alleged abuses (see "Lawmakers query FCC about 'troubling' eRate abuse," http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=4304).