BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1375
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 4, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1375 (Price) - As Amended: August 2, 2010
Policy Committee: Utilities and
Commerce Vote: 14-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill relieves telephone corporations of the requirement to
provide 911 emergency service to residential phone connections
that are no longer receiving land-line phone service (so called
warm lines), with specified exceptions, as follows:
1)Requires a local telephone corporation to provide access to
911 emergency services for at least 120 days after
disconnection of residential basic phone service for
nonpayment of any delinquent account or indebtedness owed by
the subscriber, and requires the telephone corporation to
inform such subscribers, as part of the disconnection notice,
of all of the following:
a) The availability of the 911 emergency service for 120
days after disconnection.
b) Options to avoid suspension or disconnection of service.
c) Other options for obtaining access to 911 service
consistent with a customer education program, if adopted by
the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
2)Allows a telephone corporation to disconnect any line in
existence on January 1, 2011, that provides access to 911
emergency services with no customer account attached for that
line, if a 90-day notice is provided that contains specified
information, including contact information for the PUC.
FISCAL EFFECT
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1)Any costs to the PUC would be minor and absorbable.
2)Based on the current estimated number of warm lines statewide,
annual special fund savings of around $2 million to end the
maintenance of warm line records in the 911 database. [State
Emergency Telephone Number Account]
COMMENTS
1)Background . Since 1994, land-line phone companies have been
required by law to provide every residential phone connection
with access to 911 emergency service regardless of whether an
account is attached to that line. This was intended to ensure
that people can always call 911 from their home even when they
have just moved in and regular phone service has not started.
Moreover, phone companies may not terminate this warm line
service for nonpayment of a delinquent account.
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 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 phone companies report
that the total number of residential landline accounts in
California has decreased from 15 million in 2001 to about
eight million in 2010. The companies also report about two
million warm lines in the state, and expect this to grow to
four million within a few years.
The state 911 Office pays AT&T and Verizon-the 911 network
providers in California-for maintaining the telephone number
and location information in the 911 databases which are part
of the 911 network. This payment comes out of the 911
surcharge collections, which were estimated to be $107 million
in 2010-11. The payment includes an estimated $2 million to
maintain warm line records in the 911 database. According to
AT&T, this cost will continue growing as subscribers switch to
wireless and the number of warm lines continues to grow.
2)Warm Lines and 911 Service . A warm line can serve its intended
purpose of enabling access to 911 in an emergency only if:
(a) the person in the emergency knows warm line service is
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available, (b) the person has a telephone to plug into a jack
connected to a warm line, and (c) all wiring on the warm line
is functional so the call can go through to the PSAP.
Regarding the first requirement, it is unclear what
information the PUC and telephone corporations have used to
meet the law's requirement to inform subscribers about warm
line service. Most Californians probably do not know 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. Finally, aging or damaged warm
line can trigger phantom 911 calls, the response to which is a
drain on government resources.
3)Purpose . This bill relieves the phone companies of the
requirement to indefinitely maintain warm lines after
residential service has been discontinued or disconnected. The
companies argue that deteriorating warm lines do not provide a
true safety net, and that a real safety net is affordable,
low-cost service such as the Lifeline service offered in
California for $4 per month. The bill would require the
companies, prior to discontinuing warm lines to provide
120-day notification to disconnected accounts and 90-day
notification all accounts discontinued as of January 1, 2011.
(There would be no notification requirement for accounts
voluntarily disconnected after January 1, 2011.) The companies
note that, in a survey of 37 other states, 32 have no warm
line requirement, two states have a 7-14 day notification, and
three states have notification requirements of 14 days, 30
days, and 90 days, respectively.
4)Opposition . The California Chapter National Emergency Number
Association, representing PSAP officials, are concerned that
the bill will lead to a diminution of 911 service. The Utility
Reform Network (TURN) argues that the current system, in
providing 911 access to every housing unit in the state,
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should not be abandoned. TURN contends that the telephone
companies have historically been reimbursed for maintaining
warm lines yet argue that warm line service is no longer
reliable-a situation TURN believes would violate the
companies' statutory requirements. TURN suggests that, in lieu
of this legislation, the PUC first re-examine the issue of
whether maintaining universal 911 access through the landline
system is still a worthwhile policy in light of technological
change.
5)In response , with respect to the issue of warm line
maintenance being covered in the carriers' rate structure,
AT&T indicates that the initial warm line requirement did not
address cost recovery, and that its line rate was set by the
PUC in 1995 at half its identified costs, the development of
which predated the warm line requirement. Moreover, AT&T
states that basic service rates remained essentially frozen
until 2008. AT&T argues that the original warm line
requirement did not contemplate two million such lines, and
growth to four million within the next few years.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081