Amended in Assembly March 17, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2795

Introduced by Assembly Member Lopez

February 19, 2016

begin delete An act to amend Section 707 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity. end delete begin insert An act to amend Section 2891.1 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to telephony. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2795, as amended, Lopez. begin delete Electricity: community choice aggregators. end delete begin insert Telephony: unlisted numbers. end insert

begin insert

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law prohibits a telephone corporation selling or licensing lists of residential subscribers from including the telephone number of any subscriber assigned an unpublished or unlisted access number, as defined, without his or her written waiver of this protection. Existing law prohibits a provider of mobile telephony services, as defined, or any affiliate or agent of the provider, providing the name and dialing number of a subscriber for inclusion in a directory or directory database, from including the dialing number of any subscriber without first obtaining the express consent of that subscriber. Existing law prohibits a subscriber from being charged for making the choice to not have his or her name and mobile telephony dialing number listed in a publicly available directory assistance database.

end insert begin insert

This bill would prohibit a subscriber from being charged for making a choice to not have the above information listed in a directory. The bill would additionally prohibit a subscriber from being charged for making the choice to not have his or her name and residential telephone number listed in a directory or a publicly available directory assistance database.

end insert begin delete

Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to consider and adopt a code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures to govern the conduct of electrical corporations relative to the consideration, formation, and implementation of a community choice aggregation program. Existing law requires the commission to ensure that the code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures are implemented by no later than January 1, 2013.

end delete begin delete

This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that provision.

end delete

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 2891.1 of the end insert begin insert Public Utilities Code end insert begin insert is
amended to read: end insert

2891.1.  

(a) Notwithstanding Section 2891, a telephone
corporation selling or licensing lists of residential subscribers shall
not include the telephone number of begin delete any end delete begin insert a end insert subscriber assigned an
unlisted or unpublished access number. A subscriber may waive
all or part of the protection provided by this subdivision through
written notice to the telephone corporation.

(b) Notwithstanding Section 2891, a provider of mobile
telephony services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of a
provider, providing the name and dialing number of a subscriber
for inclusion in any directory of any form, or selling the contents
of any directory database, or any portion or segment begin delete thereof, end delete begin insert of a
directory database, end insert shall not include the dialing number of begin delete any end delete begin insert a end insert
subscriber without first obtaining the express consent of that
subscriber. The express consent shall meet all of the following
requirements:

(1) It shall be one of the following:

(A) A separate document that is signed and dated by the
subscriber, and that is not attached to any other document.

(B) An affirmative response made on a separate field on an
Internet Web site where there is no default. The provider of mobile
telephony services shall send a confirmation notice to the
subscriber’s electronic mail address, or to a subscriber’s postal
mail address if the subscriber does not have an electronic mail
account.

(2) It shall be unambiguous, legible, and conspicuously disclose
that, by opting in, the subscriber is consenting to have the
subscriber’s dialing number sold or licensed as part of a list of
subscribers and the subscriber’s dialing number may be included
in a publicly available directory.

(3) If, under the subscriber’s calling plan, the subscriber may
be billed for receiving unsolicited calls or text messaging from a
telemarketer, the provider’s form shall include an unambiguous
and legible disclosure statement that, by consenting to have the
subscriber’s dialing number sold or licensed as part of a list of
subscribers or included in a publicly available directory, the
subscriber may incur additional charges for receiving unsolicited
calls or text messages.

(c)  begin delete Nothing in this section prohibits end delete begin insert This section does not
prohibit end insert a subscriber of mobile telephony services from voluntarily
entering into an agreement for the placement of his or her name
and mobile telephony dialing number in any advertising program
if the agreement satisfies the express consent requirements of this
section.

(d) A subscriber who provides express prior consent pursuant
to subdivision (b) may revoke that consent at any time. A provider
of mobile telephony services shall comply with the subscriber’s
request to opt out within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed
60 days.

(e) A subscriber shall not be charged for making the choice to
not have begin delete their end delete begin insert his or her end insert name and mobile telephony dialing
number begin delete be end delete begin insert or his or her name and residential telephone number end insert
listed in a begin insert directory or end insert publicly available directory assistance
database.

(f) This section does not apply to the provision of telephone
numbers to the following parties for the purposes indicated:

(1) To a collection agency, to the extent disclosures made by
the agency are supervised by the commission, exclusively for the
collection of unpaid debts.

(2) (A) To begin delete any end delete begin insert a end insert law enforcement agency, fire protection
agency, public health agency, public environmental health agency,
city or county emergency services planning agency, or private
for-profit agency operating under contract with, and at the direction
of, one or more of these agencies, for the exclusive purpose of
responding to a 911 call or communicating an imminent threat to
life or property.

(B) Any information or records provided to a private for-profit
agency pursuant to this subdivision shall be held in confidence by
that agency and by begin delete any end delete begin insert an end insert individual employed by or associated
with that agency. This information or these records shall not be
open to examination for any purpose not directly connected with
the administration of the services specified in subdivision (e) of
Section 2872 or this paragraph.

(3) To a lawful process issued under state or federal law.

(4) To a telephone corporation providing service between service
areas for the provision to the subscriber of telephone service
between service areas, or to third parties for the limited purpose
of providing billing services.

(5) To a telephone corporation to effectuate a customer’s request
to transfer the customer’s assigned telephone number from the
customer’s existing provider of telecommunications services to a
new provider of telecommunications services.

(6) To the commission pursuant to its jurisdiction and control
over telephone and telegraph corporations.

(g) Every deliberate violation of this section is grounds for a
civil suit by the aggrieved subscriber against the organization or
corporation and its employees responsible for the violation.

(h) For purposes of this section, “unpublished or unlisted access
number” means a telephone, telex, teletex, facsimile, computer
modem, or any other code number that is assigned to a subscriber
by a telephone or telegraph corporation for the receipt of
communications initiated by other telephone or telegraph customers
and that the subscriber has requested that the telephone or telegraph
corporation keep in confidence.

(i)  begin delete No telephone corporation, nor any official or employee
thereof, shall end delete begin insert A telephone corporation, or an official or employee
of a telephone corporation, shall not end insert be subject to criminal or civil
liability for the release of customer information as authorized by
this section.

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 707 of the Public Utilities Code is
amended to read:

707.  

(a) Not later than March 1, 2012, the commission shall
institute a rulemaking proceeding for the purpose of considering
and adopting a code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement
procedures, to govern the conduct of the electrical corporations
relative to the consideration, formation, and implementation of
community choice aggregation programs authorized in Section
366.2. The code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement
procedures, shall do all of the following:

(1) Ensure that an electrical corporation does not market against
a community choice aggregation program, except through an
independent marketing division that is funded exclusively by the
electrical corporation’s shareholders and that is functionally and
physically separate from the electrical corporation’s
ratepayer-funded divisions.

(2) Limit the electrical corporation’s independent marketing
division’s use of support services from the electrical corporation’s
ratepayer-funded divisions, and ensure that the electrical
corporation’s independent marketing division is allocated costs of
any permissible support services from the electrical corporation’s
ratepayer-funded divisions on a fully allocated embedded cost
basis, providing detailed public reports of such use.

(3) Ensure that the electrical corporation’s independent
marketing division does not have access to competitively sensitive
information.

(4) (A) Incorporate rules that the commission finds to be
necessary or convenient in order to facilitate the development of
community choice aggregation programs, to foster fair competition,
and to protect against cross-subsidization paid by ratepayers.

(B) It is the intent of the Legislature that the rules include, in
whole or in part, the rules approved by the commission in Decision
97-12-088 and Decision 08-06-016.

(C) This paragraph does not limit the authority of the
commission to adopt rules that it determines are necessary or
convenient in addition to those adopted in Decision 97-12-088 and
Decision 08-06-016 or to modify any rule adopted in those
decisions.

(5) Provide for any other matter that the commission determines
to be necessary or advisable to protect a ratepayer’s right to be
free from forced speech or to implement that portion of the federal
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 that establishes the
federal standard that no electric utility may recover from any person
other than the shareholders or other owners of the utility, any direct
or indirect expenditure by the electric utility for promotional or
political advertising (16 U.S.C. Sec. 2623(b)(5)).

(b) No later than January 1, 2013, the commission shall ensure
that the code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement
procedures are implemented.

(c) This section does not limit the authority of the commission
to require that any marketing against a community choice
aggregation plan shall be conducted by an affiliate of the electrical
corporation, or to require that marketing against a community
choice aggregator not be conducted by a marketing division of the
electrical corporation, subject to affiliate transaction rules to be
developed by the commission.

end delete