BILL NUMBER: AB 855 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 13, 2003
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 12, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 11, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 10, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 8, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 16, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 2, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 6, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Firebaugh and Levine
FEBRUARY 20, 2003
An act to add Section 14666.8 to the Government Code, to amend
Section 280 of, and to add Section 280.5 to, the Public Utilities
Code, relating to telecommunications.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 855, Firebaugh. Telecommunications: access to state property
for wireless facilities: California Teleconnect Fund Administrative
Committee Fund: Digital Divide Account.
(1) Existing law requires the Director of General Services, with
the approval of the state agency concerned, to negotiate, in the name
of the state, access to state-owned property not used for highway
purposes, for those purposes and subject to those conditions,
limitations, restrictions, and reservations determined by the
director to be in the interest of the state. Existing law provides
that this requirement to negotiate access applies to
telecommunications and information technologies. Existing law
requires, to the extent permitted under existing law, the Director of
General Services to determine the amount of consideration for, and
means of access, which means shall include, but not be limited to,
lease, permit, or other form of providing a monetary or service
consideration for the access.
Existing law imposes similar requirements on the Director of
Transportation with respect to state-owned highway rights-of-way.
This bill would require the Director of General Services, within
120 days of the operative date of the bill, to compile and maintain
an inventory of state-owned real property, excluding certain
property, that may be available for lease to providers of wireless
telecommunications services for location of wireless
telecommunications facilities, and to provide a requesting party,
upon payment of any applicable fee, with a copy of the inventory. It
would authorize the director to negotiate and enter into an
agreement for the lease of certain department-managed and state-owned
real property to any provider of wireless telecommunications
services for location of its facilities, subject to specified
conditions.
This bill would require, notwithstanding any other provision of
law, that any revenue collected from a lease entered into pursuant to
this bill to use property that was acquired with money in a fund
other than the General Fund be deposited into the fund from which it
was obtained. The bill would further require that moneys received
and deposited in those funds be available upon appropriation by the
Legislature notwithstanding any other provision of law.
(2) Existing law establishes the California Teleconnect Fund
Administrative Committee to advise the Public Utilities Commission
regarding the development, implementation, and administration of a
program to advance universal service by providing discounted rates to
qualifying schools, libraries, hospitals, health clinics, and
community organizations, consistent with an uncodified statute
requiring the commission to open and conclude a proceeding relative
to the implementation of universal service in telecommunications.
Existing law establishes the California Teleconnect Fund
Administrative Committee Fund in the State Treasury and provides that
moneys in the fund, collected by telephone corporations in utility
rates authorized by the commission and deposited into the fund, may
only be expended for the purposes authorized, upon appropriation in
the annual Budget Act.
This bill would require the commission to develop, implement, and
administer a program to advance universal service by providing
discounted rates to qualifying schools, libraries, hospitals, health
clinics, and community organizations.
(3) Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to
develop a plan to encourage the widespread availability and use of
advanced communications infrastructure consistent with the state
policy of bridging the digital divide.
The bill would require that 15% of the revenues from fees
collected from the lease of state-owned real property to the
providers of wireless telecommunication services pursuant to its
provisions, with certain exceptions, be deposited in the Digital
Divide Account established by the bill in the California Teleconnect
Fund Administrative Committee Fund. It would require the revenues
deposited in the account to be available, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to be administered by the commission to finance digital
divide projects through the Digital Divide Grant Program established
by the bill. The bill would limit payment of administrative expenses
to 5% of the revenues deposited into the account. The bill would
require the commission to report to the Legislature and Governor
annually on the effectiveness of the program.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Wireless telecommunications service is a critical part of
California's infrastructure.
(b) The rapid deployment of wireless telecommunications facilities
is critical to ensure network access and quality of service.
(c) It is in the public interest to minimize the aesthetic impact
of wireless telecommunications towers and facilities necessary to
support wireless networks.
(d) Use of property owned by the state, local government agencies,
and other public entities for location of wireless
telecommunications facilities will expedite deployment of wireless
telecommunications service and minimize the aesthetic impact of
wireless telecommunications towers and, facilities, or other wireless
repeaters, amplifiers, regenerative repeaters, or regenerators that
have the shape of natural or manmade structures or objects.
SEC. 2. Section 14666.8 is added to the Government Code, to read:
14666.8. (a) The director shall, within 120 days of the operative
date of this section, compile and maintain an inventory of
state-owned real property that may be available for lease to
providers of wireless telecommunications services for location of
wireless telecommunications facilities. This inventory shall be the
state's sole inventory of state-owned real property available for
this purpose. The term "state-owned real property," as used in this
section, excludes property owned or managed by the Department of
Transportation and property subject to Section 7901 of the Public
Utilities Code.
(b) The director shall provide, in a cost-effective manner, upon
payment of any applicable fee, a requesting party a copy of the
inventory.
(c) On behalf of the state, the director may negotiate and enter
into an agreement to lease department-managed and state-owned real
property to any provider of wireless telecommunications services for
location of its facilities. A lease for this purpose shall do all of
the following:
(1) Provide for fair market value to be paid by the provider of
wireless telecommunications service to the state to the extent
permitted under existing state law.
(2) Designate a lease term that is acceptable to the director and
the state agency that has control over the property. The duration of
the initial lease term for any wireless facility may not exceed 10
years, and the lease may provide for a negotiated number of renewal
terms, not to exceed five years for each term.
(3) Provide for the use of the wireless provider's facilities
located on the state-owned real property by any appropriate state
agency if technically, legally, aesthetically, and economically
feasible.
(4) Facilitate, to the greatest extent possible, agreements among
providers of wireless telecommunications services for colocation of
their facilities on state-owned real property.
(d) Nothing in this section alters any existing rights of
telegraph or telephone corporations pursuant to Section 7901 of the
Public Utilities Code.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any revenue
collected from a lease entered into pursuant to this section to use
property that was acquired with money from a fund other than the
General Fund shall be deposited into the fund from which the money
was obtained. Money received and deposited into a fund pursuant to
this section shall be available upon appropriation by the Legislature
notwithstanding any other provision of law.
SEC. 3. Section 280 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
280. (a) The commission shall develop, implement, and administer
a program to advance universal service by providing discounted rates
to qualifying schools, libraries, hospitals, health clinics, and
community organizations, consistent with Chapter 278 of the Statutes
of 1994.
(b) There is hereby created the California Teleconnect Fund
Administrative Committee, which is an advisory board to advise the
commission regarding the development, implementation, and
administration of a program to advance universal service by providing
discounted rates to qualifying schools, libraries, hospitals, health
clinics, and community organizations, consistent with Chapter 278 of
the Statutes of 1994, and to carry out the program pursuant to the
commission's direction, control, and approval.
(c) All revenues collected by telephone corporations in rates
authorized by the commission to fund the program specified in
subdivision (a) shall be submitted to the commission pursuant to a
schedule established by the commission. Commencing on October 1,
2001, and continuing thereafter, the commission shall transfer the
moneys received, and all unexpended revenues collected prior to
October 1, 2001, to the Controller for deposit in the California
Teleconnect Fund Administrative Committee Fund. All interest earned
by moneys in the fund shall be deposited in the fund.
(d) Moneys appropriated from the California Teleconnect Fund
Administrative Committee Fund to the commission shall be utilized
exclusively by the commission for the program specified in
subdivision (a), including all costs of the board and the commission
associated with the administration and oversight of the program and
the fund.
(e) Moneys loaned from the California Teleconnect Fund
Administrative Committee Fund in the Budget Act of 2003 are subject
to Section 16320 of the Government Code. If the commission
determines a need for moneys in the California Teleconnect Fund
Administrative Committee Fund, the commission shall notify the
Director of Finance of the need, as specified in Section 16320 of the
Government Code. The commission may not increase the rates
authorized by the commission to fund the program specified in
subdivision (b) while moneys loaned from the California Teleconnect
Fund Administrative Committee Fund in the Budget Act of 2003 are
outstanding unless both of the following conditions are satisfied:
(1) The Director of Finance, after making a determination pursuant
to subdivision (b) of Section 16320 of the Government Code, does not
order repayment of all or a portion of any loan from the California
Teleconnect Fund Administrative Committee Fund within 30 days of
notification by the commission of the need for the moneys.
(2) The commission notifies the Director of Finance and the
Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee in writing that
it intends to increase the rates authorized by the commission to
fund the program specified in subdivision (a). The notification
required pursuant to this paragraph shall be made 30 days in advance
of the intended rate increase.
(f) Subdivision (e) shall become inoperative upon full repayment
or discharge of all moneys loaned from the California Teleconnect
Fund Administrative Committee Fund in the Budget Act of 2003.
SEC. 4. Section 280.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
280.5. (a) Of the revenues from fees collected pursuant to
Section 14666.8 of the Government Code after the operative date of
this section, except for revenues from fees from a lease agreement
for access to Department of Transportation property or a lease
agreement existing prior to the operative date of the section, 15
percent shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
for the purpose of addressing the state's digital divide.
(b) Revenues described in subdivision (a) shall be deposited in
the Digital Divide Account, which is hereby established in the
California Teleconnect Fund Administrative Committee Fund established
pursuant to Section 270, to be used only for digital divide pilot
projects. Not more than 5 percent of the revenues described in
subdivision (a), may be used to pay the costs incurred in connection
with the administration of digital divide pilot projects by the
commission.
(c) (1) The Digital Divide Grant Program is hereby established
subject to the availability of funding pursuant to this section. The
commission may not implement the grant program until the commission
projects that at least five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) will
be available in the Digital Divide Account during the calendar year
following implementation, based on money collected pursuant to
Section 14666.8 of the Government Code.
(2) The commission shall provide grants pursuant to this
subdivision on a competitive basis subject to criteria to be
established by the commission and in a way that disburses the funds
widely, including urban and rural areas. Grants shall be awarded to
community-based nonprofit organizations that are exempt from taxation
under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code for the purpose
of funding community technology programs.
(3) Recipients of grants pursuant to this subdivision shall report
to the commission annually on the effectiveness of the grant
program.
(4) The commission shall report to the Legislature and the
Governor annually on the effectiveness of the program administered
pursuant to this subdivision.
(d) For purposes of this section, "community technology programs"
means a program that is engaged in diffusing technology in local
communities and training local communities in the use of technology,
especially local communities that otherwise would have no access or
limited access to the Internet and other technologies.
(e) For purposes of this section, "digital divide projects" means
community technology programs involved in activities that include,
but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Providing open access to and opportunities for training in
technology.
(2) Developing content relevant to the interests and wants of the
local community.
(3) Preparing youth for opportunities in the new economy through
multimedia training and skills.
(4) Harnessing technology for e-government services.