BILL ANALYSIS 1
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SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
ALEX PADILLA, CHAIR
SB 1375 - Price Hearing Date:
April 20, 2010 S
As Introduced FISCAL B
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DESCRIPTION
Current law requires all landline telephone corporations, to the
extent permitted by existing technology or facilities, to
provide every telephone connection with access to 911 emergency
service regardless of whether an account has been established or
regular service has been disconnected for nonpayment.
This bill would require all landline telephone corporations, to
the extent permitted by existing technology or facilities, to
provide every existing and newly installed residential telephone
connection with a connection that has the capacity to place a
911 call regardless of whether an account has been or
established or regular service has been disconnected for
nonpayment.
BACKGROUND
According to the author, this bill aims to update the
requirement that all California residences have access to 911
emergency service in recognition of the increase in telephone
subscribers who are abandoning landline service in favor of
wireless or other technologies.
Access to 911 - Current law enacted in 1994 requires all
landline telephone corporations, to the extent permitted by
existing technology or facilities, to provide every residential
telephone connection with access to 911 emergency service
regardless of whether an account has been established. The law
prohibits any corporation from terminating this "warm line"
service for nonpayment of any delinquent account. The intent of
this law is to ensure that people can always call 911 from their
home even when they just move in and regular phone service has
not started yet or when regular service has been discontinued
because they cannot afford to pay their telephone bill. The law
also requires telephone corporations to inform subscribers of
the availability of warm line service in a manner determined by
the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
Benefit and Cost of Warm Line Service - While the warm line
requirement is intended to enhance public safety, no data or
reports of actual emergency calls being placed on warm lines
have been identified. Telephone corporations, 911 service
administrators, the CPUC, and the State of California 911
Emergency Communications Office have been asked to provide this
information, including any data or reports related to an
apparent surge in false or "phantom" 911 calls in southern
California that peaked in early 2009.
Telephone corporations (and their ratepayers) incur the cost of
maintaining the facilities for warm lines and the telephone
number associated with each line that registers at the local
Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) if a 911 call is
transmitted on the line. The companies claim that these costs
have increased because of rapid growth in the number of warm
lines as subscribers discontinue landline service and transfer
to wireless, cable, or VoIP service. The CPUC reports that the
total number of landline access lines in California has
decreased from 24.77 million in 2001 to 20.25 million in 2008.
When customers abandon wireline service, the wire to the
residence remains as a warm line. AT&T claims that it now has 2
million warm lines statewide, up from 150,000 in 2005.
AT&T Complaint Case - Current law generally requires telephone
corporations to maintain warm lines indefinitely. In 2005, the
Utility Consumers' Action Network filed a complaint with the
CPUC challenging AT&T's then-existing policy of providing warm
line service for only180 days after billed service was
discontinued. The CPUC found that AT&T's policy violated the
warm line requirement and imposed a penalty of about $1.7
million. AT&T's appeal of the decision is pending before the
California Court of Appeal.
"Phantom" 911 Calls - Telephone corporations and the 911 County
Coordinator Task Force report that PSAPs sometimes receive 911
calls that are triggered by damaged or aging lines, weather, or
other causes. Not knowing whether there is a real emergency,
public safety officials respond to the homes where these calls
originate, thereby draining local government resources and
making those responders unavailable for other public safety
duties. They claim that the incidence of phantom 911 calls is
increasing as customers abandon landline service and the number
of existing warm lines continues to grow.
COMMENTS
1) Do Warm Lines Serve Intended Purpose ? A warm line can
serve its intended purpose of enabling access to 911 in an
emergency only if (1) the person in the emergency knows
warm line service is available, (2) the person has a
telephone to plug into a jack connected to a warm line, and
(3) all wiring on the warm line is functional so that the
call can go through to the PSAP. Regarding the first
requirement, it is unclear what information the CPUC and
telephone corporations have used to meet the law's
requirement to inform subscribers about warm line service.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the average person does
not know that warm line service is available. Regarding
the third requirement, telephone companies claim that,
short of a site visit to each premise, they do not know if
a warm line is functional when a subscriber switches to
another provider because they no longer have contact with
that subscriber. Subscribers would likely determine
whether a warm line is functional only when trying to place
a 911 call. The telephone companies also claim that, with
competition in the local exchange market, warm lines are
sometimes cut in a way that makes them nonfunctional when a
new provider connects the subscriber to its facilities.
These issues highlight the need for more data on whether
warm lines have been used successfully to call 911 in real
emergencies in the 15 years that they have been required.
2) Ongoing Negotiations . The current language in this bill
makes no significant change in the requirement to provide
warm line service. However, the author represents that
telephone companies, 911 public safety officials, and the
911 County Coordinator Task Force have been engaged in
negotiations to modify the 911 warm line requirement to
account for changes in the telecommunications marketplace
yet still preserve the public safety purpose of warm lines.
The concepts under negotiation include eliminating the
requirement to provide a warm line when a subscriber
voluntarily switches to another provider, modifying the
requirement when a subscriber is disconnected from regular
service for nonpayment, and requiring more customer
education of low-cost service options that include 911
access. While no language has been provided at this time,
these concepts raise issues addressed in the following
comments.
3) Voluntary Disconnection . Eliminating the requirement to
provide a warm line when a subscriber voluntarily chooses
to switch to another service provider would not deprive the
subscriber of the ability to call 911 in an emergency if
the new service includes 911 access. This proposal would
relieve the incumbent telephone corporation losing
subscribers to competitors of the cost of maintaining warm
lines. Reducing the number of warm lines also would reduce
the chance for phantom 911 calls to PSAPs.
4) Disconnection for Nonpayment . The stakeholders are
considering whether to reduce the warm line requirement
from being of indefinite duration to a limited period of
time, perhaps 60 days, after a subscriber is disconnected
for nonpayment of service charges. The goal is to give
subscribers a sufficient amount of time to re-establish
service, which could be Lifeline service at 50% of the cost
of basic service, or a measured Lifeline service at an even
lower rate, both of which would enable 911 access.
However, discontinuing warm line service after a specified
period carries the risk that the subscriber will not have
re-established regular service and would not be able to
place a 911 call in an emergency. Despite the lack of hard
data that warm lines have enabled 911 calls in real
emergencies, the possibility of even one customer being
unable to call 911 in a life-threatening situation may be
too great a risk.
5) Customer Education . To minimize the possibility of a
person ever being without 911 access, the stakeholders are
considering an improved customer education program so that
a subscriber facing disconnect for nonpayment would be
informed of all service options, including service from
other providers. Because of the competitive market, one
idea being considered is to require the CPUC to adopt a
customer education program that the telephone corporation
would use to describe services from other providers. This
proposal, if effectively implemented, could further the
goal of ensuring that all subscribers maintain service that
includes 911 access.
POSITIONS
Sponsor:
AT&T, Verizon, and Frontier
Support:
AT&T
CalCom
CalTel
Frontier
SureWest
Verizon
911 County Coordinator Task Force
Oppose:
None on file.
Jackie Kinney
SB 1375 Analysis
Hearing Date: April 20, 2010