BILL NUMBER: AB 3152 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 779
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 23, 1996
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 21, 1996
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 30, 1996
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 21, 1996
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 20, 1996
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 5, 1996
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 3, 1996
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 20, 1996
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 15, 1996
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 29, 1996
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 1996
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 15, 1996
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Martinez
FEBRUARY 23, 1996
An act to add Section 2881.01 to, and to repeal and add Section
2881.2 of, the Public Utilities Code, relating to telecommunications.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 3152, Martinez. Telephones.
Existing law requires the commission to design and implement
programs whereby each telephone corporation shall provide a
telecommunications device capable of servicing the needs of
individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired, as specified, and to
establish a rate recovery mechanism through a surcharge to be in
effect until January 1, 1997.
This bill would extend the surcharge until January 1, 2001, and
require the commission to design and implement a program under which
each telephone corporation would be required to provide publicly
available telephones equipped with telecommunications devices capable
of servicing the needs of the deaf or hearing impaired in existing
buildings, structures, facilities, and public accommodations.
The bill would also repeal an obsolete provision of law.
Because violations of orders, decisions, rules, or other
requirements of the Public Utilities Commission are misdemeanors,
this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating new
crimes.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 2881.01 is added to the Public Utilities Code,
to read:
2881.01. (a) Notwithstanding subdivision (d) of Section 2881, the
surcharge shall be in effect until January 1, 2001.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (f) of Section 2881, the
commission shall be authorized to make the prescribed adjustments
until January 1, 2001.
SEC. 2. Section 2881.2 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 3. Section 2881.2 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
2881.2. (a) In addition to the requirements of Section 2881, the
commission shall design and implement a program that shall provide
for publicly available telecommunications devices capable of
servicing the needs of the deaf or hearing impaired in existing
buildings, structures, facilities, and public accommodations of the
type specified in Section 4450 of the Government Code and Sections
19955.5 and 19956 of the Health and Safety Code, making available
reasonable access of all phases of public telephone service to
individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired. The commission shall
direct the appropriate committee under its control to determine and
specify locations within existing buildings, structures, facilities,
and public accommodations in need of a telecommunications device and
to contract for the procurement, installation, and maintenance of
these devices. In the letting of the contract, the commission shall
direct the committee to ensure consideration of for-profit and
nonprofit corporations, including nonprofit corporations with
demonstrated service to individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired
and whose boards of directors and staff are made up of a majority of
those individuals. The commission shall also direct the committee to
seek the cooperation of the owners, managers, and tenants of the
existing buildings, structures, facilities, and public accommodations
that have been determined to be in need of a telecommunications
device with regard to its installation and maintenance. The
commission shall phase in this program over a reasonable period of
time, beginning no later than January 1, 1998, giving priority to
those existing buildings, structures, facilities, and public
accommodations determined by the commission, with the advice and
counsel of statewide nonprofit consumer organizations for the deaf,
to be of most importance and usefulness to the deaf or hearing
impaired.
(b) The commission shall ensure that costs are recovered as they
are incurred under this section, including any costs incurred by the
owners, managers, or tenants of existing buildings, structures,
facilities, and public accommodations, and shall utilize for this
purpose the rate recovery mechanism established pursuant to
subdivision (d) of Section 2881. The commission shall also establish
a fund and require separate accounting for the program implemented
under this section and, in addition, shall require that the surcharge
utilized to fund the program not exceed two-hundredths of 1 percent,
that it be combined with the surcharge required by subdivision (d)
of Section 2881, and that it count toward the limits set by that
subdivision. This surcharge shall be in effect until January 1,
2001.
(c) "Existing buildings, structures, facilities, and public
accommodations," for the purposes of this section, means those
buildings, structures, facilities, and public accommodations or parts
thereof that were constructed or altered prior to January 26, 1993,
or are otherwise not required by Section 303 of the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-336) (42 U.S.C., Sec. 12183)
or any other section of that act and its implementing regulations
and guidelines, to have a publicly available telecommunications
device capable of serving the needs of the deaf or hearing impaired.
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the
only costs which may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, changes the definition of a crime or infraction, changes
the penalty for a crime or infraction, or eliminates a crime or
infraction. Notwithstanding Section 17580 of the Government Code,
unless otherwise specified in this act, the provisions of this act
shall become operative on the same date that the act takes effect
pursuant to the California Constitution.