BILL NUMBER: AB 2213 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fuentes
FEBRUARY 18, 2010
An act to amend Sections 871.5, 872, and 878 of the Public
Utilities Code, relating to telecommunications.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2213, as amended, Fuentes. Moore Universal Telephone Service
Act.
The Moore Universal Telephone Service Act established the
Universal Lifeline Telephone Service (ULTS) program in order to
provide low-income households with access to affordable basic
residential telephone service.
This bill would replace the definition of "residential" in the
Moore Universal Telephone Service Act with a definition of "household"
and would make conforming changes.
Existing law requires that a lifeline telephone service subscriber
be provided with one single party line at his or her principal place
of residence.
This bill would instead require that a lifeline telephone service
subscriber be provided with one lifeline subscription, as defined by
the commission, at his or her principal place of residence.
Existing law makes any public utility, as defined, and any
corporation other than a public utility, that violates the Public
Utilities Act, or that fails to comply with any part of any order,
decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission,
guilty of a crime.
Because the provisions of this bill are within the act and require
action by the commission to implement its requirements, a violation
of these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by
expanding the definition of a crime.
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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Ensuring that all state residents have access to affordable,
reliable, and high-quality basic local telephone
service is a longstanding policy of the state.
(b) To help achieve this policy, the Legislature enacted the Moore
Universal Telephone Service Act that created a lifeline class of
telephone service for low-income citizens.
(c) Technologies beyond traditional landline telephones are now
available in California and could be used to offer low-income
citizens access to affordable, reliable, and high-quality basic
telephone service.
(d) If alternative technologies are used to provide lifeline
telephone services, the technologies should provide voice
telecommunications services at the same level of reliability and
quality as traditional landline services and provide the same level
of access to emergency and community services as traditional landline
services.
(e) In Decision 06-08-030, the Public Utilities Commission
established a uniform regulatory framework for the large- and
mid-sized incumbent local exchange carriers that granted those
telephone corporations broad pricing freedoms concerning almost all
telecommunications services, new telecommunications products, bundles
of services, promotions, and contracts.
(f) In developing new lifeline rates after the uniform regulatory
framework decision, the commission must ensure that low-income
ratepayers continue to have access to affordable telephone services.
(d) If alternative technologies are used to provide lifeline
telephone service, the technologies should provide comparable access
to emergency and community services as traditional landline telephone
service, and the commission shall ensure that low-income consumers
using alternative technologies continue to have access to reliable,
high-quality, and affordable voice telecommunications services.
SEC. 2. Section 871.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
871.5. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The offering of high-quality basic telephone service at
affordable rates to the greatest number of citizens has been a
longstanding goal of the state.
(b) The Moore Universal Telephone Service Act has been, and
continues to be, an important means for achieving universal service
by making basic telephone service affordable to
low-income households through the creation of a lifeline class of
service.
(c) Every means should be employed by the commission and telephone
corporations to ensure that every household qualified to receive
lifeline telephone service is informed of and is afforded the
opportunity to subscribe to that service.
(d) The furnishing of lifeline telephone service is in the public
interest and should be supported fairly and equitably by every
telephone corporation, and the commission, in administering the
lifeline telephone service program, should implement the program in a
way that is equitable, nondiscriminatory, and without competitive
consequences for the telecommunications industry in California.
SEC. 3. Section 872 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
872. As used in this article, "household" means a residential
dwelling that is the principal place of residence of the lifeline
telephone service subscriber, and excludes any industrial,
commercial, or other nonresidential building.
SEC. 4. Section 878 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
878. A lifeline telephone service subscriber shall be provided
with one lifeline subscription, as defined by the commission, at his
or her principal place of residence, and no other member of that
subscriber's family or household who maintains residence at that
place is eligible for lifeline telephone service.
An applicant for lifeline telephone service may report only one
address in this state as the principal place of residence.
SEC. 5. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.