BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1074| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1074 Author: Fuentes (D) Amended: 8/15/11 in Senate Vote: 27 - Urgency SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 7/5/11 AYES: Evans, Harman, Blakeslee, Corbett, Leno ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/26/11 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Personal liability immunity: telecommunications service providers SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill provides that a retail or wholesale service provider of telecommunications service, or other service, involved in providing 9-1-1 service, as specified, shall not be liable for any civil claim, damage, or loss caused by an act or omission in the design, development, installation, maintenance, or provision of 9-1-1 service. This immunity would not apply, however, if the act or omission that proximately caused the claim, damage, or loss constituted gross negligence, wanton or willful misconduct, or intentional misconduct. The immunity also would not apply to services provided under tariff. This bill defines "public safety agency" and "9-1-1 service" for the purposes of this bill, and otherwise makes findings and declarations with respect to Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1) services. CONTINUED AB 1074 Page 2 Senate Floor Amendments of 8/15/11 add an urgency clause. ANALYSIS : Existing state law generally provides that everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his/her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his/her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his/her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself/ herself. (Civil Code Section 1714) Existing federal law provides that a wireless carrier, Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled voice service provider, or other emergency communications provider, and their officers, directors, employees, vendors, and agents, shall have immunity or other protection from liability in a state of a scope and extent that is not less than the scope and extent of immunity or other protection from liability that any local exchange company, and its officers, directors, employees, vendors, or agents, have under federal and state law (whether through statute, judicial decision, tariffs filed by such local exchange company, or otherwise) applicable in such state, including in connection with an act or omission involving the release to a public safety answer point (PSAP), emergency medical service provider or emergency dispatch provider, public safety, fire service or law enforcement official, or hospital emergency or trauma care facility of subscriber information related to emergency calls, emergency services, or other emergency communications services. (47 United States Section 615a) Existing federal law provides that in matters related to 9-1-1 communications via wireless 9-1-1 service, IP-enabled voice service, or other emergency communications service, a PSAP, and its employees, vendors, agents, and authorizing government entity (if any) shall have immunity or other protection from liability of a scope and extent that is not less than the scope and extent of immunity or other protection from liability under applicable law accorded to such PSAP, employees, vendors, agents, and authorizing government entity, respectively, in matters related to 9-1-1 communications that are not via wireless 9-1-1 service, IP-enabled voice service, or other emergency communications service. (47 United States Code Section CONTINUED AB 1074 Page 3 615a) Existing Public Utilities Commission (PUC) tariff provides that a utility shall not be liable for civil damages, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, to any person, corporation, or other entity for any loss or damage caused by any Utility act or omission in the design, development, installation, maintenance, or provision of 9-1-1 Service other than an act or omission constituting gross negligence or wanton or willful misconduct. The Utility shall not be liable or responsible for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages associated with the provision of 9-1-1 Service, including, for example and without limitation, when a call originates from a system or line which makes the provision of specific location information impossible to provide for technical reasons, and when a failure or interruption in 9-1-1 Service is due to the attachment of any equipment by a customer to Utility facilities. Existing state law, the Warren 911-Emergency Assistance Act, requires every local public agency to establish a telephone service which automatically connects a person dialing the digits "911" to an established public safety answering point through normal telephone service facilities. (Government Code Section 53100 et seq.) This Act defines "public safety agency" to mean a functional division of a public agency which provides firefighting, police, medical, or other emergency services. (Government Code Section 53102) This bill provides that a retail or wholesale service provider of telecommunications service in accordance with the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act (Article 6 (commencing with Section 53100) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code) involved in providing 9-1-1 service, shall not be liable for any civil claim, damage, or loss caused by an act or omission in the design, development, installation, maintenance, or provision of 9-1-1 service, unless the act or omission that proximately caused the claim, damage, or loss constituted gross negligence, wanton or willful misconduct, or intentional misconduct. CONTINUED AB 1074 Page 4 This bill defines "public safety agency" in accordance with the Warren 911-Emergency Assistance Act, and define "9-1-1 service" as a telecommunications service, or other wireline or wireless service, that provides to the user of the public telephone system the ability to reach a public safety agency by utilizing the digits 9-1-1 or otherwise facilitates the provision of emergency services pursuant to the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act. This bill provides that "9-1-1 service" includes a 9-1-1 service that utilizes in whole or in part an IP. This bill specifies that this section shall not be construed to modify the liability of a manufacturer, distributor, or other person arising from a claim, damage, or loss, related to the operation or performance of an end-user device that is not related to the provision of 9-1-1 service. This bill does not apply to services provided under tariff. This bill includes findings and declarations. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 7/12/11) AT&T California's Independent Telecommunications Companies Civil Justice Association of California ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author: "This bill extends the same immunity from ordinary negligence that telephone companies have in their tariff to other service providers when they are functioning as part of the 911 emergency system. This immunity would only attach when a third party is actively participating in connecting a caller to a 911 provider, and not generally to the company or its other activities. "All entities associated with responding to emergencies, including providers of 911 service, have immunity from CONTINUED AB 1074 Page 5 ordinary negligence. Without this protection, no entity, whether a public agency or private company, could assume the risk of liability associated with responding to an emergency. Emergency responders have immunity through statute, while telephone corporations have it through tariffs filed with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). NG 911, however, will involve third-party providers that are neither emergency responders nor telephone companies, and these third-parties will be deterred from providing emergency related services if they cannot have the same immunity from ordinary negligence. The leading examples are companies that maintain mapping databases and specialize in converting X/Y map coordinates into an address, which is a vital function in locating a wireless caller who cannot give their location." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/26/11 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Cedillo, Davis, Gorell, Jones RJG:mw 8/15/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED