Federal Communications Commission "FCC XX-XXX" STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER OLIVIA TRUSTY Re: Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech Services for Individuals with Hearing and Speech Disabilities; T-Mobile Accessibility Petition for Rulemaking to Amend 47 CFR § 64.604(b)(1) to Eliminate the Requirement that TTY-Based Relay Service be Capable of Communicating with ASCII Format, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, CG Docket No. 03-123, RM-11931 (June 26, 2025). Under the Communications Act, the Commission is tasked with making sure individuals with hearing or speech disabilities can communicate with other telephone users. This is required to be done in a way that is functionally equivalent to voice communication “to the extent possible and in the most efficient manner.” To date, the Commission has done good work in making this possible through Telecommunications Relay Services. Consistent with the statute, this item takes an important step forward in enabling providers to allocate resources to technology that the majority of individuals with hearing or speech disabilities rely upon. Although the legacy standard for Telecommunications Relay Services was once widely used when relay services were limited to text-to-voice or voice-to-text, TRS has since evolved. Today consumers have overwhelmingly embraced newer, alternative, forms of communication. This item rightly recognizes advancements in technology and changes in consumer behavior, and proposes appropriate action toward adopting a more modern framework for TRS rules. Providers that otherwise would have used funds to comply with legacy standards and requirements may – under this proposed item – be able to use those funds to update their networks and implement service enhancements that will benefit individuals with hearing or speech disabilities. Importantly, this item advances a policy of fiscal prudence and responsibility, while alleviating unnecessary regulatory burdens and delivering better quality and more accessible communications services for consumers. I thank the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau for their important work on this item. It has my full support. 2