Rural Electrification and Telephone Revolving Fund Self-Sufficiency Act of 1984

(Reported to Senate from the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry with amendment, S. Rept. 98-545)

Rural Electrification and Telephone Revolving Fund Self-Sufficiency Act of 1984 - Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (REA) to eliminate the requirement for a State certificate of convenience and necessity before the Administrator may make loans to provide rural telephone service.

Revises the definition of "telephone service" to include: (1) data transmission; and (2) visual or electromagnetic transmissions. Expands the definition of "rural area."

Converts certain long-term REA notes made to the Treasury for loan funds to equity capital (currently liabilities) of the Rural Electrification and Telephone Revolving Fund (Fund). Authorizes the use of Fund assets to pay interest and principal on certificates of ownership issued to the Treasury or in the private market.

Requires the Administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration to maintain two separate accounts within the Fund: (1) the Electrification Account; and (2) the Telephone Account. Lists the items that shall be accounted for in each Account respectively, and restricts the purposes for which the assets of each Account shall be available.

Authorizes the Administrator to repurchase without penalty specified certificates of beneficial ownership when such certificates' interest rate exceeds the current interest rate by at least one point.

Revises interest rate provisions to require the Administrator, within 120 days, to establish and periodically adjust a "standard" rate for each account of at least five percent that will produce anticipated interest income equal to anticipated interest expenses.

Requires the Administrator to make insured loans at "special" interest rates of not less than two percent nor more than one-half the standard interest rate. Sets forth guidelines for such interest rates.

States that such standard and special interest rate rules shall not take effect until: (1) they have been transmitted to the Senate and House agricultural committees; and (2) 30 days of continuous session of Congress have expired after the date of transmittal.

Requires the Administrator to: (1) establish a reserve in each account to cover the cost of loans made at the "special" rate; and (2) annually put into each reserve an amount equal to one percent of the previous year's principal and interest payments. States that if either reserve is inadequate to cover such costs the Secretary of Agriculture shall include a request for the necessary funds in his or her next budget request.

Requires the Administrator to review each "special" loan every five years to determine continued borrower eligibility.

Requires (presently authorizes) the Administrator to: (1) guarantee loans or to accommodate or subordinate liens or mortgages held in the Fund; and (2) promulgate implementing rules within 90 days.

Requires rural electrification borrowers to obtain concurrent supplemental financing according to prescribed guidelines in any fiscal year in which the minimum loan level for insured rural electrification loans is less than $1,000,000,000.

Repeals the FY 1991 termination date on the obligation of the United States to purchase Rural Telephone Bank capital stock.

Repeals certain provisos governing the loan-making authority of the Governor of the Rural Telephone Bank which require approval by the Secretary of Agriculture of facilities or lines to be acquired with such loans. Eliminates loan restrictions placed upon potential borrowers whose net worth exceeds their assets by twenty percent.

Requires the Administrator, upon the application of a cooperative borrower in a noncontiguous State not served by a statewide or multistate power grid, to apply the same minimum financial standards separately to such cooperative's distribution assets and to its generation and transmission assets as are separately applied to cooperatives classified as either a distribution cooperative or a generation and transmission cooperative.