BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 136 (Beall)
Hearing Date: 08/25/2011 Amended: 06/30/2011
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy Policy Vote: EU&C 8-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 136 requires the Public Utilities Commission to
provide speech generating devices to telephone customers that
have speech disabilities.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Program oversight $165 $330 $330 Special
*
Outside contracting for $130
$130Special *
program delivery
Providing devices to Potential costs of $7,000 to Special
*
disabled customers $9,500 per year
* Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program Administrative
Committee Fund.
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
Under current law, the Public Utilities Commission operates the
Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program. Under this
program, the Commission provides assistance to deaf and disabled
telecommunications customers, to allow them to use the telephone
system. Eligible customers may be provided with teletype or
other devices or they may use a relay system in which specially
trained operators interface between the disabled customer and
the person on the other end of the conversation. This program is
supported by a fee on intrastate telephone calls. The surcharge
is currently set at 0.2 percent of phone rates and is capped in
AB 136 (Beall)
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statute at 0.5 percent.
AB 136 expands the existing Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications
Program, to provide service to individuals with speech
disabilities that impair access to the telephone system. Under
the bill, the Commission is responsible to ensure that eligible
customers have access to speech generating devices and related
equipment. In order to be eligible for service, individuals must
be residents of the state and certified as being speech impaired
by a physician, speech pathologist, or government agency.
The bill also requires the Commission to report to the
Legislature by December 31, 2012 on options for controlling the
cost of providing speech generating devices.
The Public Utilities Commission anticipates that it will need
about $330,000 per year in additional staff costs to develop
program rules and to oversee the expansion of the program. In
addition, because the Commission does not have expertise in
speech disabilities or the devices used by individuals with
speech disabilities to communicate, it will need to contract out
some of the program delivery services, at an annual cost of
about $130,000.
In addition to the program oversight cost to the Commission,
there will be costs to provide speech generating devices to the
target population. The cost of such devices can vary from $4,000
to $11,000 and in some cases can be as high as $18,000. The
total number of individuals that might request such a device
from the Commission is unknown. Based on available information
regarding the demand for these devices in the state's Medi-Cal
program, staff estimates that about 0.005 percent of the
population will request such a device each year. Excluding
populations served by state and federal programs such as
Medi-Cal, Medicare, and the Department of Rehabilitation, and
other groups unlikely to apply, staff estimates that about 860
individuals will request one of these devices from the
Commission per year. This yields total costs between $7 million
and $9.5 million per year.
Staff notes that the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications
Program Administrative Committee Fund has a structural deficit
and a projected fund balance at the end of the Budget Year of
about $11 million. Expansion of the program is likely to require
AB 136 (Beall)
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an increase in the surcharge that supports the program.