BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1733
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1733 (Reyes)
As Amended August 23, 2004
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(April 24, |SENATE: |25-7 |(August 24, |
| | |2003) | | |2004) |
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Original Committee Reference: U. & C.
SUMMARY : Seeks to provide additional privacy protection for
wireless telephone numbers. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that a provider of mobile telephony services (service
provider) providing the name and dialing number of a
subscriber for inclusion in any directory, or selling the
contents of any directory data base, shall not include the
dialing number of any subscriber without first obtaining the
express consent of that subscriber.
2)Requires that the service provider's form for obtaining the
subscriber's express consent shall meet all of the specified
requirements.
3)Provides that a subscriber who provides express prior consent
may revoke that consent at any time and a service provider
must comply with that request within a reasonable time not to
exceed 60 days.
4)Provides that a subscriber may not be charged for making the
choice to not be listed in a directory.
5)Provides that this bill's provisions do not apply to a
telephone corporation to effectuate a customer's request to
transfer the customer's assigned telephone number from his or
her existing service provider to a new service provider.
6)Includes a severability clause and related definitions.
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill,
and instead, insert the above provisions.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill required a proposed
AB 1733
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electricity procurement plan of an electric utility to
demonstrate that it furthers the utility's obligation under the
state's renewables portfolio standard.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : This bill was prompted by a recent announcement by
the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA)
that it is putting together a national directory of cell phone
numbers that could be available by the end of this year. The
directory is expected to include about 75% of the nation's 163
million cell phone numbers (Verizon Wireless has said it will
not list any of its 39 million customers in the directory).
Some experts estimate the directory could generate $3 billion in
directory assistance fees and additional minutes sold for
wireless companies.
Many wireless telephone companies have been anticipating the
creation of such a directory for some time and have been
including in their standard contracts a specific clause that
gives permission to publish numbers. The wireless telephone
industry believes there is a need for a cell phone directory
because more and more people, about 8 million so far, according
to CTIA, are canceling their traditional landline phone service
and using only wireless phones.
Unlike traditional land line phones, most Wireless phone users
currently pay for all incoming calls and text messages, either
on a per minute basis or by purchasing a "bucket" of minutes at
a fixed rate. Subscribers can control their bills by
controlling who has their phone number. Consumer and privacy
advocates fear the new directory will cause a wave of
telemarketing and text message spam to cell phones, and that
aside from the nuisance, people will end up paying for sales
pitches to their wireless phone.
Cellular Phone Industry representatives argue that this bill is
unnecessary because they already plan to provide their
subscribers with most of the protections required in this bill.
They plan to only list a subscriber's number if the customer
provides opt-in consent. They state that currently the do not
plan to charge subscribers not to be listed. However, those
oppose to the legislation want the flexibility to change their
plans in the future.
AB 1733
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Analysis Prepared by : Edward Randolph / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083
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0008806