BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 219|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 219
Author: Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee
Amended: 5/1/01 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE ENERGY, U.&C. COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/24/01
AYES: Bowen, Morrow, Alarcon, Battin, Murray, Speier,
Vincent
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-0, 5/21/01
AYES: Alpert, Battin, Bowen, Burton, Escutia, Johnson,
Murray, Perata, Poochigian
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-1, 4/16/01 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public utilities: deaf and disabled program
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill extends until January 1, 2006, the
surcharge on intrastate telephone service used to pay for
the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program (DDTP),
which provides telecommunications devices and services for
the deaf and hearing impaired, and for the disabled.
ANALYSIS : Current law establishes several programs to
assist the deaf and hearing impaired use the telephone.
These programs include providing telecommunications
devices, funding a dual-party relay service, and equipping
telephones in public places with proper equipment. Funding
for these programs, which is limited to 0.5 percent of all
CONTINUED
AB 219
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in-state telephone bills, sunsetted on January 1, 2001.
This bill extends that sunset for five years.
The bill permits these programs to be funded from other
existing telecommunications programs on a temporary basis.
The bill authorizes the transfer of funds from the
California High-Cost Fund-B Trust to the Deaf Equipment
Acquisition Fund Trust in an amount sufficient to cover the
costs of the DDTP for up to six months, or $28.5 million.
Fund B is used to help subsidize rural phone customers and
currently has a balance of about $900 million and a backlog
of claims. In addition, the bill requires the PUC to
reimburse the Fund B for any such transfer with moneys from
the DDTP Administrative Committee Fund. (According to PUC
staff, this provision is necessary because the DDTP Fund
will be depleted by approximately July 1, 2001, and it is
likely the surcharge won't be implemented until 60 days
after the effective date of this bill.)
Background
The roots of the programs to help the deaf and hearing
impaired use the telephone go back to 1979 when legislation
required the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)
to implement a program to distribute specialized
telecommunications equipment to deaf individuals. In 1983,
legislation required a statewide dual-party relay service
which permits deaf and hearing impaired individuals to
communicate with others via an operator, predating the
federal requirement for such a program by seven years. In
1999, the programs in this bill allowed over 400,000
Californians to use specialized telephone devices and
carried over seven million telephone calls through the
dual-party relay service at a cost of $43 million.
AB 2757 (Assembly Utilities & Commerce Committee), which
would have extended the surcharge much as this bill
proposes to do, was passed by the Senate last year 32-0 and
by the Assembly 73-3. However, the bill was vetoed by the
Governor due to provisions unrelated to the surcharge
extension.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
AB 219
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3
The PUC advises it would incur no net costs as a result of
this bill.
The surcharge brings annual revenues of potentially $50
million to fund the DOTP program.
Potential transfer of up to $28.5 million.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/22/01)
California Self Help for Hard of Hearing People
California Speech-Language-Hearing Association
ASSEMBLY FLOOR
AYES: Alquist, Aroner, Ashburn, Bates, Bogh, Briggs,
Calderon, Bill Campbell, John Campbell, Canciamilla,
Cardoza, Cedillo, Chan, Chavez, Cogdill, Cohn, Corbett,
Correa, Cox, Daucher, Diaz, Dickerson, Dutra, Firebaugh,
Florez, Frommer, Goldberg, Harman, Havice, Horton,
Jackson, Keeley, Kehoe, Kelley, Koretz, La Suer, Leach,
Leonard, Leslie, Longville, Lowenthal, Maddox, Maldonado,
Matthews, Migden, Nakano, Nation, Negrete McLeod,
Oropeza, Robert Pacheco, Rod Pacheco, Papan, Pavley,
Pescetti, Reyes, Richman, Runner, Salinas, Shelley,
Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Strom-Martin, Thomson,
Vargas, Washington, Wayne, Wesson, Wiggins, Wright,
Wyland, Zettel, Hertzberg
NOES: Wyman
NC:kb 5/23/01 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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