BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1477
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 2, 2001
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Carole Migden, Chairwoman
AB 1477 (Hertzberg) - As Introduced: February 23, 2001
Policy Committee: Governmental
Organization Vote: 15-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill:
1)Authorizes local agencies to establish a 3-1-1 nonemergency
telephone system in order to reduce the burden on the 9-1-1
system for nonemergency calls.
2)Requires those agencies to submit their 3-1-1 plans to the
Department of General Services' Division of Telecommunications
for review.
3)Requires the division to establish technical and operational
standards for this system and to monitor local compliance with
those standards.
4)Authorizes the Attorney General to enforce 3-1-1 system
requirements.
5)Requires the division to establish a surcharge, payable to the
Board of Equalization and sufficient to operate the system, on
the telephone service for every customer within jurisdictions
with 3-1-1 service.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Estimated special fund surcharge costs of about $600,000 in
the first year and about $900,000 thereafter for the
Department of General Services to establish and administer the
program.
2)The Board of Equalization would incur ongoing costs of at
AB 1477
Page 2
least $250,000 to administer collection of the surcharge.
3)Costs to provide the 3-1-1 service would depend on the number
of local communities that elect to establish the service, but
could be tens of millions of dollars annually, which would be
covered by the surcharge on telephone users.
COMMENTS
1)Background and Purpose . In recent years, California's 9-1-1
emergency response system has experienced substantial growth,
in part due to the high ratio of nonemergency calls. The
result of the increased call volume is that many callers with
legitimate emergencies experience busy signals or have their
calls held by a recorded message when calling 9-1-1. In
response to this situation, Chapter 887, Statutes of 1997 (AB
1198, Hertzberg) provided funding for a pilot project to
evaluate two approaches to reduce nonemergency calls: (a)
using 3-1-1 to reach local public safety agencies for
nonemergency assistance and (b) improving marketing of
existing non-emergency telephone numbers for non-emergency
assistance.
The conclusion of the pilot project report was that the 3-1-1
alternative had a greater positive impact. The study also
suggested that the Legislature consider whether focusing
resources on other factors, such as emergency call center
staffing, would have a similar beneficial impact on 9-1-1.
The author asserts that the demonstrated success of the pilot
project justifies establishing a 3-1-1 nonemergency telephone
number program.
2)Prior Legislation . Last year, the governor vetoed AB 2837
(Hertzberg), which was substantially similar to this bill.
The governor's veto message stated, in part, the following:
"While the concept for a separate non-emergency telephone
system is a good one, the potential costs for this program are
unknown at this time. Without pilot projects to provide the
data necessary to estimate costs for this program, it would be
premature to approve this measure. Use of specific numbering
resources falls primarily within the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC)'s jurisdiction. The California Public
Utilities Commission (PUC) manages California's valuable
numbering resources in compliance with those federal rules and
is currently coordinating with the FCC to implement 211 and
AB 1477
Page 3
511, respectively, for other uses. I am directing the PUC to
look at the provisions of "311" services in concert with their
existing 211 and 511 proceedings."
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)319-2081