BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 500|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 445-6614 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 500
Author: Torlakson (D), et al
Amended: 7/3/02
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, U.&C. COMMITTEE : 6-0, 1/15/02
AYES: Bowen, Morrow, Alarcon, Battin, Speier, Vincent
SENATE FLOOR : 30-4, 1/22/02
AYES: Alarcon, Alpert, Battin, Brulte, Burton, Chesbro,
Costa, Dunn, Escutia, Figueroa, Johannessen, Karnette,
Kuehl, Machado, Margett, McClintock, McPherson, Monteith,
Morrow, Murray, O'Connell, Ortiz, Peace, Romero, Scott,
Sher, Soto, Speier, Torlakson, Vincent
NOES: Ackerman, Haynes, Knight, Oller
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-3, 8/5/02 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Retail merchandise, utilities and cable
television: delivery,
service and repair
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires specified retail, cable
television and utility companies to actively provide
consumers with a mutually agreeable four-hour time window
for service and outlines procedures for appropriate
notification if the service appointment is delayed.
Assembly Amendments further clarify the notification
CONTINUED
SB 500
Page
2
requirements regarding a customers' right to a four-hour
service or delivery window, and increase the penalty.
ANALYSIS : Current law requires most retailers to both
offer and provide customers with a four-hour window during
which repairs or deliveries will be made.
Current law does not apply this same standard to utility
and cable television companies. Those entities can choose
to tell customers about the four-hour window either when
customers call (as most retailers are required to do) or by
mailing such information to their subscribers or ratepayers
three times a year. Utility and cable television companies
are required to provide a four-hour delivery or service
window to customers upon request.
SB 101 (Lockyer), Chapter 1075, Statutes of 1989, SB 101
(Lockyer) of 1992, and SB 47 (Lockyer), Chapter 28,
Statutes of 1993, combined to generally require that
customers be given a four-hour window to expect repairmen
to show up or deliveries to be made. If the company misses
the appointment, the customer may go to small claims court
and sue for lost wages, expenses actually incurred, or
other actual damages not exceeding $500. Unforeseen or
unavoidable events beyond the control of the company are
valid reasons for missing the appointment, provided a
diligent attempt is made to notify the customer beforehand
and a new two-hour window is arranged.
This bill requires specified retail, cable television and
utility companies to actively provide customers with a
mutually agreeable four-hour time window for service and
outlines procedures for appropriate notification if the
service appointment is changed. Specifically, this bill:
1.Eliminates the option of cable television and utility
companies to notify customers of their right to a
four-hour service window via mail, so that these
companies are required to inform customers of that right
when they call for service.
2.Requires that specified retail, cable television and
utility companies may set a four-hour service window only
with the agreement of the consumer.
SB 500
Page
3
3.Permits notification by a company of a service delay
either in person or by phone, but if a consumer is
notified by phone, the company must leave a phone number
which the consumer can call to arrange for a new
appointment.
4.Exempts specified retail, cable television and utility
companies from local action if the company misses an
appointment due to forces beyond its control and the
company makes a diligent attempt to notify the consumer,
either in person or by telephone, of the delay.
5.Increases the penalty for specified retail, cable
television and utility companies that fail to meet the
four-hour service window without due cause to a maximum
of $600.
Comments
This bill is intended to bring specified retail, cable
television and utility companies up top the same standards
of consumer protection in providing timely and reliable
home delivery, repair or connection services.
In practice, this bill will require cable television and
utility companies to notify consumers at the time of
scheduling of their right to a four-hour service window, as
retailers are currently required to do. It removes the
option to periodically inform consumers of this right by
mail instead of providing the notification at the time of
scheduling. This bill requires that specified retail,
cable television and utility companies set four-hour
service windows in cooperation with the consumer. It also
permits notification of a delay in person or by phone in
conjunction with a call-back number for setting a new
appointment. The penalty for missing the appointment is
raised by $100 to a maximum of $600 in damages in small
claims court.
According to the author's office, cable television and
utility consumers "should be made aware of the four-hour
window for the time they request service connection or
repair in order to minimize inconvenience, including lost
SB 500
Page
4
wages." Supporters argue that this provision simply
requires "utility and cable service providers to abide by
the same reasonable offer of a four-hour service period
currently required by retailers." Furthermore, the Office
of Ratepayer Advocates "believes that the changes?.proposed
by SB 500 will save ratepayers the wages lost from waiting
all day for the utility to arrive and also improve repair
response times in California by making the utilities more
accountable to consumers."
Administrative Regulations Set by a Partial Precedent .
Pacific Bell has been required by the State Public
Utilities Commission, as part of the resolution of a
complaint, to modify its "611" repair service to alert
customers that four-hour windows are available.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/6/02)
Attorney General Bill Lockyer
Consumers Union
American Federation of State, County and State Employees,
AFL-CIO
The Utility Reform Network (TURN)
Utility Consumers Action Network (UCAN)
Office of Ratepayers Advocate of the PUC
AARP
State Public Utilities Commission
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Aroner, Bates, Bogh, Calderon,
Bill Campbell, John Campbell, Canciamilla, Cardenas,
Cardoza, Chan, Chavez, Chu, Cogdill, Cohn, Corbett,
Correa, Cox, Daucher, Diaz, Dickerson, Dutra, Firebaugh,
Florez, Frommer, Goldberg, Harman, Havice, Hollingsworth,
Horton, Jackson, Keeley, Kehoe, Kelley, Koretz, La Suer,
Leach, Leonard, Leslie, Liu, Longville, Lowenthal,
Maddox, Maldonado, Matthews, Migden, Nakano, Nation,
Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Robert Pacheco, Papan, Pavley,
Pescetti, Reyes, Richman, Salinas, Shelley, Simitian,
Steinberg, Strickland, Strom-Martin, Thomson, Vargas,
SB 500
Page
5
Washington, Wayne, Wiggins, Wright, Wyland, Zettel,
Wesson
NOES: Ashburn, Mountjoy, Wyman
NC:cm 8/6/02 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****