BILL ANALYSIS 1 1 SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE ALEX PADILLA, CHAIR SB 1375 - Price Hearing Date: April 20, 2010 S As Introduced FISCAL B 1 3 7 5 DESCRIPTION Current law requires all landline telephone corporations, to the extent permitted by existing technology or facilities, to provide every telephone connection with access to 911 emergency service regardless of whether an account has been established or regular service has been disconnected for nonpayment. This bill would require all landline telephone corporations, to the extent permitted by existing technology or facilities, to provide every existing and newly installed residential telephone connection with a connection that has the capacity to place a 911 call regardless of whether an account has been or established or regular service has been disconnected for nonpayment. BACKGROUND According to the author, this bill aims to update the requirement that all California residences have access to 911 emergency service in recognition of the increase in telephone subscribers who are abandoning landline service in favor of wireless or other technologies. Access to 911 - Current law enacted in 1994 requires all landline telephone corporations, to the extent permitted by existing technology or facilities, to provide every residential telephone connection with access to 911 emergency service regardless of whether an account has been established. The law prohibits any corporation from terminating this "warm line" service for nonpayment of any delinquent account. The intent of this law is to ensure that people can always call 911 from their home even when they just move in and regular phone service has not started yet or when regular service has been discontinued because they cannot afford to pay their telephone bill. The law also requires telephone corporations to inform subscribers of the availability of warm line service in a manner determined by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Benefit and Cost of Warm Line Service - While the warm line requirement is intended to enhance public safety, no data or reports of actual emergency calls being placed on warm lines have been identified. Telephone corporations, 911 service administrators, the CPUC, and the State of California 911 Emergency Communications Office have been asked to provide this information, including any data or reports related to an apparent surge in false or "phantom" 911 calls in southern California that peaked in early 2009. Telephone corporations (and their ratepayers) incur the cost of maintaining the facilities for warm lines and the telephone number associated with each line that registers at the local Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) if a 911 call is transmitted on the line. The companies claim that these costs have increased because of rapid growth in the number of warm lines as subscribers discontinue landline service and transfer to wireless, cable, or VoIP service. The CPUC reports that the total number of landline access lines in California has decreased from 24.77 million in 2001 to 20.25 million in 2008. When customers abandon wireline service, the wire to the residence remains as a warm line. AT&T claims that it now has 2 million warm lines statewide, up from 150,000 in 2005. AT&T Complaint Case - Current law generally requires telephone corporations to maintain warm lines indefinitely. In 2005, the Utility Consumers' Action Network filed a complaint with the CPUC challenging AT&T's then-existing policy of providing warm line service for only180 days after billed service was discontinued. The CPUC found that AT&T's policy violated the warm line requirement and imposed a penalty of about $1.7 million. AT&T's appeal of the decision is pending before the California Court of Appeal. "Phantom" 911 Calls - Telephone corporations and the 911 County Coordinator Task Force report that PSAPs sometimes receive 911 calls that are triggered by damaged or aging lines, weather, or other causes. Not knowing whether there is a real emergency, public safety officials respond to the homes where these calls originate, thereby draining local government resources and making those responders unavailable for other public safety duties. They claim that the incidence of phantom 911 calls is increasing as customers abandon landline service and the number of existing warm lines continues to grow. COMMENTS 1) Do Warm Lines Serve Intended Purpose ? A warm line can serve its intended purpose of enabling access to 911 in an emergency only if (1) the person in the emergency knows warm line service is available, (2) the person has a telephone to plug into a jack connected to a warm line, and (3) all wiring on the warm line is functional so that the call can go through to the PSAP. Regarding the first requirement, it is unclear what information the CPUC and telephone corporations have used to meet the law's requirement to inform subscribers about warm line service. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the average person does not know that warm line service is available. Regarding the third requirement, telephone companies claim that, short of a site visit to each premise, they do not know if a warm line is functional when a subscriber switches to another provider because they no longer have contact with that subscriber. Subscribers would likely determine whether a warm line is functional only when trying to place a 911 call. The telephone companies also claim that, with competition in the local exchange market, warm lines are sometimes cut in a way that makes them nonfunctional when a new provider connects the subscriber to its facilities. These issues highlight the need for more data on whether warm lines have been used successfully to call 911 in real emergencies in the 15 years that they have been required. 2) Ongoing Negotiations . The current language in this bill makes no significant change in the requirement to provide warm line service. However, the author represents that telephone companies, 911 public safety officials, and the 911 County Coordinator Task Force have been engaged in negotiations to modify the 911 warm line requirement to account for changes in the telecommunications marketplace yet still preserve the public safety purpose of warm lines. The concepts under negotiation include eliminating the requirement to provide a warm line when a subscriber voluntarily switches to another provider, modifying the requirement when a subscriber is disconnected from regular service for nonpayment, and requiring more customer education of low-cost service options that include 911 access. While no language has been provided at this time, these concepts raise issues addressed in the following comments. 3) Voluntary Disconnection . Eliminating the requirement to provide a warm line when a subscriber voluntarily chooses to switch to another service provider would not deprive the subscriber of the ability to call 911 in an emergency if the new service includes 911 access. This proposal would relieve the incumbent telephone corporation losing subscribers to competitors of the cost of maintaining warm lines. Reducing the number of warm lines also would reduce the chance for phantom 911 calls to PSAPs. 4) Disconnection for Nonpayment . The stakeholders are considering whether to reduce the warm line requirement from being of indefinite duration to a limited period of time, perhaps 60 days, after a subscriber is disconnected for nonpayment of service charges. The goal is to give subscribers a sufficient amount of time to re-establish service, which could be Lifeline service at 50% of the cost of basic service, or a measured Lifeline service at an even lower rate, both of which would enable 911 access. However, discontinuing warm line service after a specified period carries the risk that the subscriber will not have re-established regular service and would not be able to place a 911 call in an emergency. Despite the lack of hard data that warm lines have enabled 911 calls in real emergencies, the possibility of even one customer being unable to call 911 in a life-threatening situation may be too great a risk. 5) Customer Education . To minimize the possibility of a person ever being without 911 access, the stakeholders are considering an improved customer education program so that a subscriber facing disconnect for nonpayment would be informed of all service options, including service from other providers. Because of the competitive market, one idea being considered is to require the CPUC to adopt a customer education program that the telephone corporation would use to describe services from other providers. This proposal, if effectively implemented, could further the goal of ensuring that all subscribers maintain service that includes 911 access. POSITIONS Sponsor: AT&T, Verizon, and Frontier Support: AT&T CalCom CalTel Frontier SureWest Verizon 911 County Coordinator Task Force Oppose: None on file. Jackie Kinney SB 1375 Analysis Hearing Date: April 20, 2010