BILL NUMBER: AB 2570 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 14, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 1, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Quirk
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to amend Sections 873 and Section
879 of, and to add Section 878.5 to, the Public Utilities Code,
relating to telecommunications.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2570, as amended, Quirk. Telecommunications: universal service:
wireless communications.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations.
The Moore Universal Telephone Service Act establishes the Universal
Lifeline Telephone Service program in order to provide low-income
households with access to affordable basic residential telephone
service. The act requires the commission to annually
designate a class of lifeline service necessary to meet minimum
communications needs. The act requires 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.
This bill would specify that minimum communication needs
includes wireless communications. The bill would prohibit
the commission from reimbursing a telephone corporation for a
reimbursement claim for providing wireless lifeline service to a new
subscriber who enrolls for service with the telephone corporation if
the subscriber enrolled for wireless lifeline service with another
telephone corporation within the previous 60 days. The bill would
require the commission to reimburse a telephone corporation providing
wireless lifeline service within 60 days of the date the telephone
corporation submits a reimbursement claim. If the commission does not
reimburse a telephone corporation for a reimbursement claim for
wireless lifeline service within 60 days, the bill would require the
commission to pay all of the costs of the telephone corporation
resulting from the late reimbursement, including, but not limited to,
financing fees, interest payments, and staff time.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 873 of the Public Utilities
Code is amended to read:
873. (a) The commission shall annually do all of the following:
(1) Designate a class of lifeline service necessary to meet
minimum communications needs, including wireless communications.
(2) Set the rates and charges for that service.
(3) Develop eligibility criteria for that service.
(4) Assess the degree of achievement of universal service,
including telephone penetration rates by income, ethnicity, and
geography.
(b) Minimum communications needs includes, but is not limited to,
the ability to originate and receive calls and the ability to access
electronic information services.
SEC. 2. SECTION 1. Section 878.5 is
added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:
878.5. The commission shall not reimburse a telephone corporation
for a reimbursement claim for providing wireless lifeline service to
a new subscriber who enrolls for service with the telephone
corporation if the subscriber enrolled in wireless lifeline service
with another telephone corporation within the previous 60 days.
Nothing in this section shall preclude a subscriber from
terminating wireless lifeline service within 14 days of service
activation without incurring any charges, including an early
termination fee, as authorized pursuant to Rulemaking 11-03-113.
SEC. 3. SEC. 2. Section 879 of the
Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
879. (a) The commission shall, at least annually, initiate a
proceeding to set rates for lifeline telephone service. All telephone
corporations providing lifeline telephone service shall annually
file, on a date set by the commission, proposed lifeline telephone
service rates and a statement of projected revenue needs to meet the
funding requirements to provide lifeline telephone service to
qualified subscribers, together with proposed funding methods to
provide the necessary funding. These funding methods shall include
identification of those services whose rates shall be adjusted to
provide the necessary funding.
(b) The commission shall commence a proceeding within 30 days
after the date set for the filings required in subdivision (a),
giving interested parties an opportunity to comment on the proposed
rates and funding requirements and the proposed funding methods. The
commission may change the rates, funding requirements, and funding
methods proposed by the telephone corporations in any manner
necessary, including reasonably spreading the funding among the
services offered by the telephone corporations, to meet the public
interest. Within 60 days of the annual filing, the commission shall
issue an order setting lifeline telephone service rates and funding
methods for each telephone corporation making a filing as required in
subdivision (a). The commission may establish a lifeline service
pool composed of the rate adjustments and surcharges imposed by the
commission pursuant to this section for the purpose of funding
lifeline telephone service.
(c) Any order issued by the commission pursuant to this section
shall require telephone corporations providing lifeline telephone
service to apply the funding requirement in the form of a surcharge
to service rates which may be separately identified on the bills of
customers using those services. The commission shall not allow any
surcharge under this section on the rates charged by those telephone
corporations for lifeline telephone service.
(d) The commission shall permit telephone corporations operating
between service areas to adjust the rates of any service which may be
affected by any surcharge imposed by this section.
(e) The commission shall reimburse a telephone corporation
providing wireless lifeline service within 60 days of the date the
telephone corporation submits a reimbursement claim. If the
commission does not reimburse a telephone corporation for a
reimbursement claim for wireless lifeline service within 60 days, the
commission shall pay all of the costs of the telephone corporation
resulting from the late reimbursement, including, but not limited to,
financing fees, interest payments, and staff time.