BILL NUMBER: AB 1555	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	CHAPTER  24
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  JULY 29, 2009
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  JULY 29, 2009
	PASSED THE SENATE  JULY 24, 2009
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  JULY 24, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 16, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 29, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members V. Manuel Perez and Fuentes
   (Principal coauthors: Senators Padilla and Wiggins)
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Chesbro)

                        MARCH 11, 2009

   An act to amend Section 281 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to telecommunications, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take
effect immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1555, V. Manuel Perez. Telecommunications: California Advanced
Services Fund.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations.
Existing law authorizes the commission to supervise and regulate
every public utility and do all things necessary and convenient in
the exercise of its power and jurisdiction.
   Existing law, until January 1, 2013, establishes the California
Advanced Services Fund (CASF) in the State Treasury, and requires a
surcharge, which is imposed by the commission and collected through
retail telecommunications customers' bills, to be deposited in that
fund, for the purpose of encouraging the deployment of advanced
communications services, as provided in a specified order of the
commission. Pursuant to that order, which establishes a program
providing matching funds to build broadband infrastructure in
unserved and underserved areas, eligible applicants for these funds
are telephone corporations having a specified certificate from the
commission and wireless carriers subject to registration with the
commission.
   This bill would, for the sole purpose of providing matching funds
pursuant to the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009, make any entity eligible for funding pursuant to that act
eligible to apply for participation in the matching funds program if
that entity otherwise satisfies the eligibility requirements under
the program.
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 281 of the Public Utilities Code, as added by
Section 4 of Chapter 393 of the Statutes of 2008, is amended to read:

   281.  (a) The commission shall develop, implement, and administer
the California Advanced Services Fund to encourage deployment of
high-quality advanced communications services to all Californians
that will promote economic growth, job creation, and the substantial
social benefits of advanced information and communications
technologies, as provided in Decision 07-12-054.
   (b) (1) All moneys collected by the surcharge authorized by the
commission pursuant to that decision, whether collected before or
after January 1, 2009, shall be transmitted to the commission
pursuant to a schedule established by the commission. The commission
shall transfer the moneys received to the Controller for deposit in
the California Advanced Services Fund.
   (2) All interest earned on moneys in the fund shall be deposited
in the fund.
   (3) The commission may not collect moneys, by imposing the
surcharge described in paragraph (1) for deposit in the fund, in an
amount that exceeds a total amount of one hundred million dollars
($100,000,000).
   (c) (1) Any moneys appropriated from the California Advanced
Services Fund to the commission may only be expended for the program
administered by the commission pursuant to subdivision (a), including
the costs incurred by the commission in developing, implementing,
and administering the program and the fund.
   (2) Notwithstanding any other law and for the sole purpose of
providing matching funds pursuant to the federal American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), any entity eligible
for funding pursuant to that act shall be eligible to apply to
participate in the program administered by the commission pursuant to
subdivision (a), if that entity otherwise satisfies the eligibility
requirements under that program. Nothing in this section shall impede
the ability of an incumbent local exchange carrier, as defined by
subsection (h) of Section 251 of Title 47 of the United States Code,
that is regulated under a rate of return regulatory structure, to
recover, in rate base, California infrastructure investment not
provided through federal or state grant funds for facilities that
provide broadband service and California intrastate voice service.
   (d) The commission shall conduct both a financial audit and a
performance audit of the implementation and effectiveness of the
California Advanced Services Fund to ensure that funds have been
expended in accordance with the approved terms of the winning bids
and this section. The commission shall report its findings to the
Legislature by December 31, 2010. The report shall also include an
update to the maps in the final report of the California Broadband
Task Force.
   (e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2013, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2013, deletes or extends
that date.
  SEC. 2.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to provide for the use of federal matching funds for
broadband programs, made available pursuant to the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), at the earliest
possible time, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.