BILL NUMBER: SB 1161 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 29, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 26, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 26, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Senator Padilla
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Bradford)
(Coauthors: Senators Correa, Fuller, Lieu, Price, Rubio, and
Strickland)
FEBRUARY 22, 2012
An act to add Sections 239 and 710 to
Section 239 to, and to add and repeal Section 710 of, the
Public Utilities Code, relating to communications.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1161, as amended, Padilla. Communications: Voice over Internet
Protocol and Internet Protocol enabled communications service.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations,
as defined.
This bill would , until January 1, 2020, prohibit the
commission from regulating Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and
Internet Protocol enabled service (IP enabled service), as defined,
except as authorized required or delegated
by federal law and or expressly
provided otherwise in statute. The bill would prohibit any
department, agency, commission, or political subdivision of the state
from enacting, adopting, or enforcing any law, rule, regulation,
ordinance, standard, order, or other provision having the force or
effect of law, that regulates or has the effect of
regulating VoIP or other IP enabled service, unless
authorized required or delegated by
federal law and or expressly authorized
by statute. The bill would specify certain areas of law that are
expressly applicable to VoIP and IP enabled service providers. The
bill would provide that its limitations upon the commission's
regulation of VoIP and IP enabled services do not affect the
commission's existing authority over traditional telephone
service through a landline connection non-VoIP and
other non-IP enabled wireline or wireless service
and does do not affect the enforcement
of any state or federal criminal law or local ordinances of general
applicability that apply to the conduct of business , the
California Environmental Quality Act, or a local utility
user tax .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) The continued vitality and success of California's technology
and innovation sector of the economy is dependent on a business
climate that supports the national and international nature of the
Internet.
(2) The Legislature is empowered to develop future state policy
and actions regarding Internet-based technology to further
innovation, consumer choice and protection, and economic benefits to
California.
(3) California's innovation economy is leading the state's
economic recovery. Silicon Valley alone added 42,000 jobs in 2011, an
increase of 3.8 percent versus a national job growth rate of 1.1
percent. The newly designated "app," for application, economy has
resulted in 466,000 new jobs nationwide, with 25 percent of that
total created in California.
(4) The Internet and Internet Protocol-based (IP-based) services
have flourished to the benefit of all Californians under the current
regulatory structure. The success of the innovation economy is a
result of an open, competitive environment that has provided
California consumers and businesses with a wide array of choices,
services, and prices.
(5) California-based entrepreneurs and businesses are the global
leaders in IP-based services and technologies. These leading
technology companies, including content, services , and
infrastructure providers, represent some of the largest employers in
California, contributing billions of dollars of economic benefit to
the state.
(6) California consumers and businesses are driving the demand for
faster networks, new and innovative apps and software, and continued
innovation. As a result of this demand, network infrastructure
companies invested billions of dollars in California in 2011.
Internet voice communications connections are up over 22 percent, and
entrepreneurs and innovators have launched close to a million apps
to meet consumer demand.
(7) The Internet and innovative IP-based services have the power
to address critical policy issues facing California and the nation
including new telemedicine initiatives to address health care access
and affordability, educational tools to improve opportunity and
success, IP-based energy solutions to promote conservation and
efficiency, and improved Internet access to support rural economic
development and sustainability.
(b) It is the intent of this act to reaffirm California's current
policy of regulating Internet-based services only as specified by the
Legislature and thereby achieve both of the following:
(1) Preserve the future of the Internet by encouraging continued
investment and technological advances and supporting continued
consumer choice and access to innovative services that benefit
California.
(2) Ensure a vibrant and competitive open Internet that allows
California's technology businesses to continue to flourish and
contribute to economic development throughout the state.
SEC. 2. Section 239 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
239. (a) (1) "Voice over Internet Protocol"
or "VoIP" means voice communications service that does all of the
following:
(1)
(A) Uses Internet Protocol or a successor protocol to
enable real-time, two-way voice communication that originates from or
terminates at the user's location in Internet Protocol or a
successor protocol.
(2)
(B) Requires a broadband connection from the user's
location.
(3)
(C) Permits a user generally to receive a call that
originates on the public switched telephone network and to terminate
a call to the public switched telephone network.
(2) A service that uses ordinary customer premises equipment with
no enhanced functionality that originates and terminates on the
public switched telephone network, undergoes no net protocol
conversion, and provides no enhanced functionality to end users due
to the provider's use of Internet Protocol technology is not a VoIP
service.
(b) "Internet Protocol enabled service" or "IP enabled service"
means any service, capability, functionality, or application using
existing Internet Protocol, or any successor Internet Protocol, that
enables an end user to send or receive a communication in existing
Internet Protocol format, or any successor Internet Protocol format
through a broadband connection, regardless of whether the
communication is voice, data, or video.
SEC. 3. Section 710 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
710. (a) The commission shall not exercise regulatory
jurisdiction or control over Voice over Internet Protocol and
Internet Protocol enabled services except as authorized
required or expressly delegated by federal law
and or expressly directed to do so by
statute or as set forth in subdivision (c). In the event of a
requirement or a delegation referred to above, nothing in
this section expands the commission's jurisdiction beyond existing
state law.
(b) No department, agency, commission, or political subdivision of
the state shall enact, adopt, or enforce , either directly
or indirectly, any law, rule, regulation, ordinance,
standard, order, or other provision having the force or effect of
law, that regulates or has the effect of regulating
VoIP or other IP enabled service, unless authorized
required or expressly delegated by federal law
and or expressly authorized by statute
or pursuant to subdivision (c). In the event of a requirement or
a delegation referred to above, nothing in this section
expands the commission's jurisdiction beyond existing state law.
(c) Nothing in this section affects or supersedes any of the
following:
(1) The Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Law (Part 20
(commencing with Section 41001) of Division 2 of the Revenue and
Taxation Code) and the state's universal service programs (Section
285).
(2) The Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006
(Division 2.5 (commencing with Section 5800)) or a franchise granted
by a local franchising entity, as those terms are defined in Section
5830.
(3) The commission's authority to implement and enforce Sections
251 and 252 of the federal Communications Act of 1934, as amended (47
U.S.C. Secs. 251 and 252).
(4) The commission's authority to require data and other
information pursuant to Section 716.
(5) The commission's authority to address or affect the resolution
of disputes regarding intercarrier compensation, including for the
exchange of traffic that originated, terminated, or was translated at
any point into Internet Protocol format.
(6) The commission's authority to enforce existing requirements
regarding backup power systems established in Decision 10-01-026,
adopted pursuant to Section 2892.1.
(d) This section does not affect the enforcement of any state or
federal criminal or civil law or any local ordinances of general
applicability, including, but not limited to, consumer protection and
unfair or deceptive trade practice laws or ordinances, that apply to
the conduct of business , the California Environmental Quality
Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public
Resources Code), and local utility user taxes .
(e) This section does not affect any existing regulation of, or
existing commission authority over, traditional telephone
service through a landline connection non-VoIP and
other non-IP enabled wireline or wireless service , including
regulations governing universal service and the offering of basic
service and lifeline service.
(f) This section does not limit the commission's ability to
monitor and discuss VoIP services, including responding informally to
customer complaints.
(g) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends
that date.