BILL NUMBER: AB 1299	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bradford

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to amend Section 281 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to telecommunications.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1299, as introduced, Bradford. Telecommunications: universal
service programs: California Advanced Services Fund.
   Existing law, the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996,
establishes a program of cooperative federalism for the regulation of
telecommunications to attain the goal of local competition, while
implementing specific, predictable, and sufficient federal and state
mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service, consistent with
certain universal service principles. The universal service
principles include the principle that consumers in all regions of the
nation, including low-income consumers and those in rural, insular,
and high-cost areas, should have access to telecommunications and
information services, including interexchange services and advanced
telecommunications and information services, that are reasonably
comparable to those services provided in urban areas and that are
available at rates that are reasonably comparable to rates charged
for similar services in urban areas. The act authorizes each state to
adopt regulations to provide for additional definitions and
standards to preserve and advance universal service within the state,
only to the extent that they adopt additional specific, predictable,
and sufficient mechanisms that do not rely on or burden federal
universal service support mechanisms.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations,
as defined. Existing law establishes the California Advanced Services
Fund (CASF) in the State Treasury and requires that moneys in those
funds are the proceeds of rates and are held in trust for the benefit
of ratepayers and to compensate telephone corporations for their
costs of providing universal service and may be expended only to
accomplish specified telecommunications universal service programs,
upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act or upon supplemental
appropriation. Existing law requires the commission to develop,
implement, and administer the CASF to encourage deployment of
high-quality advanced communications services to all Californians
that will promote economic growth, job creation, and substantial
social benefits of advanced information and communications
technologies, as provided in specified decisions of the commission
and in the CASF statute.
   Existing law requires that $100,000,000, collected by a surcharge
authorized by the commission, after January 1, 2011, is to be
deposited into the Broadband Infrastructure Account. Existing law
authorizes the commission to collect an additional sum not to exceed
$125,000,000, after January 1, 2011, for a sum total of moneys
collected through the surcharge not to exceed $225,000,000. Existing
law authorizes the commission to collect the additional sum through
the 2015 calendar year.
   This bill would require the commission to develop, implement, and
administer the CASF to encourage deployment and adoption of
high-quality advanced communication services to Californians who
reside in publicly supported housing communities in urban regions
without assessing a new surcharge or increasing an existing
surcharge.
   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.  Section 281 of the Public Utilities Code 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 and Decision
09-07-020 and this section.  Without assessing a new surcharge or
increasing an existing   surcharge, the commission shall
also develop, implement, and administer the California Advanced
Services Fund to encourage deployment and adoption of high-quality
advanced   communications services to Californians who
reside in publicly supported housing communities in urban regions.
 The commission shall establish the following accounts within
the fund:
   (1) The Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account.
   (2) The Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia Grant
Account.
   (3) The Broadband Infrastructure Revolving Loan Account.
   (b) (1) All moneys collected by the surcharge authorized by the
commission pursuant to Decision 07-12-054, 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. Moneys collected after January
1, 2011, shall be deposited in the following amounts in the
following accounts:
   (A) One hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) into the Broadband
Infrastructure Grant Account.
   (B) Ten million dollars ($10,000,000) into the Rural and Urban
Regional Broadband Consortia Grant Account.
   (C) Fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) into the Broadband
Infrastructure Revolving Loan Account.
   (2) All interest earned on moneys in the fund shall be deposited
in the fund.
   (3) The commission shall not collect moneys, by imposing the
surcharge described in paragraph (1) for deposit in the fund, in an
amount that exceeds one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) before
January 1, 2011. After January 1, 2011, the commission may collect
an additional sum not to exceed one hundred twenty-five million
dollars ($125,000,000), for a sum total of moneys collected by
imposing the surcharge described in paragraph (1) not to exceed two
hundred twenty-five million dollars ($225,000,000). The commission
may collect the additional sum beginning with the calendar year
starting on January 1, 2011, and continuing through the 2015 calendar
year, in an amount not to exceed twenty-five million dollars
($25,000,000) per year, unless the commission determines that
collecting a higher amount in any year will not result in an increase
in the total amount of all surcharges collected from telephone
customers that year.
   (c) (1) All moneys in the California Advanced Services Fund shall
be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the
commission for the program administered by the commission pursuant to
this section, 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
this section, 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) Moneys in the Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia
Grant Account shall be available for grants to eligible consortia to
fund the cost of broadband deployment activities other than the
capital cost of facilities, as specified by the commission. An
eligible consortium may include, as specified by the commission,
representatives of organizations, including, but not limited to,
local and regional government, public safety, K-12 education, health
care, libraries, higher education, community-based organizations,
tourism, parks and recreation, agricultural, and business, and is not
required to have as its lead fiscal agent an entity with a
certificate of public convenience and necessity.
   (e) Moneys in the Broadband Infrastructure Revolving Loan Account
shall be available to finance capital costs of broadband facilities
not funded by a grant from the Broadband Infrastructure Grant
Account. The commission shall periodically set interest rates on the
loans based on surveys of existing financial markets.
   (f) (1)  The commission shall conduct an interim and final
financial audit and an interim and final 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 grant awards and loan agreements and this
section. The commission shall report its interim findings to the
Legislature by April 1, 2011. The commission shall report its final
findings to the Legislature by April 1, 2017. The reports shall also
include an update to the maps in the final report of the California
Broadband Task Force and data on the types and numbers of jobs
created as a result of the program administered by the commission
pursuant to this section.
   (2) (A) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under
paragraph (1) is inoperative on January 1, 2018, pursuant to Section
10231.5 of the Government Code.
   (B) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
   (g) (1)  Beginning on January 1, 2012, and annually thereafter,
the commission shall provide a report to the Legislature that
includes all of the following information:
   (A) The amount of funds expended from the California Advanced
Services Fund in the prior year.
   (B) The recipients of funds expended from the California Advanced
Services Fund in the prior year.
   (C) The geographic regions of the state affected by funds expended
from the California Advanced Services Fund in the prior year.
   (D) The expected benefits to be derived from the funds expended
from the California Advanced Services Fund in the prior year.
   (E) Actual broadband adoption levels from the funds expended from
the California Advanced Services Fund in the prior year.
   (F) The amount of funds expended from the California Advanced
Services Fund used to match federal funds.
   (G) An update on the expenditures from California Advanced
Services Fund and broadband adoption levels, and an accounting of
remaining unserved and underserved areas of the state.
   (2) (A) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under
paragraph (1) is inoperative on January 1, 2016, pursuant to Section
10231.5 of the Government Code.
   (B) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.