BILL ANALYSIS
Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
669 (Hertzberg)
Hearing Date: 8/5/02 Amended: 8/5/02
Consultant: Karen French Policy Vote: E, U & C
6-2 Communications
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BILL SUMMARY:
AB 669 authorizes every public agency to establish a
nonemergency telephone system and specifies that "311"
would be the dedicated number within the system. The bill
authorizes the Department of General Services (DGS) to aid
local agencies in setting up the systems and requires the
Division of Telecommunications to establish technical and
operational standards for the system.
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05
Fund
DGS admin $515 --
--General
Implementation -Unknown, multimilions-Unknown
STAFF COMMENTS:
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense
File.
Prior to the latest set of amendments, this bill was
virtually identical to AB 1477 (Hertzberg-2001) and AB 2837
(Hertzberg-2000), both of which were vetoed. The previous
version of the bill would have allowed local entities to
pay for the system by imposing a surcharge (of up to 0.25%
of a customer's phone bill) on intrastate telephone bills
for customers within the jurisdiction of the entity, to be
administered through the State Board of Equalization.
Current law imposes a surcharge on intrastate telephone
service. DGS sets the rate each September 1, up to a
maximum 0.75% rate. The current rate is 0.72%. The Board
of equalization collects the surcharge from about 500
telephone suppliers. Revenues deposited in the 911 Fund
are used to support the state's emergency telephone system.