BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                                   1
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             SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
                            DEBRA BOWEN, CHAIRWOMAN
          

          SB 1891 -  Senate EU&C Committee                        
          Hearing Date:  April 13, 2004        S
          As Introduced:  March 1, 2004      FISCAL           B

                                                                       
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                                   DESCRIPTION
           

           Existing law  , prior to sunsetting on January 1, 2004,  
          required the Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to submit  
          to the Legislature, on or before October 31 of each year, a  
          report on, among other things, the status of competition in  
          the telecommunications marketplace.

           This bill  reinstates that requirement and sunsets it on  
          January 1, 2007.

                                    BACKGROUND
           
          AB 1973 (Bill Campbell), Chapter 465, Statutes of 1998, was  
          passed by a unanimous vote and  required the CPUC to  
          undertake an analysis of the status of competition in the  
          telecommunications industry every year.  The requirement  
          for that analysis sunsetted on January 1, 2004.  This bill  
          reinstates that requirement until January 1, 2007.

                                     COMMENTS
           
           1.Not Your Father's Oldsmobile  .  Unlike some reports which  
            are submitted to the Legislature, the telecommunications  
            competition report has great ability to influence the  
            policy making process.  That's because California's  











                 long-standing telecommunications policy encourages  
                 competition and California's regulatory mechanism is  
                 calibrated to the degree of competition.

                2.All For One .  This is the annual committee bill which  
                 contains non-controversial measures that don't make  
                 substantive changes in policy.  

                 The policy on committee bills is any member may ask for  
                 any provision of the bill to be deleted.  Committee staff  
                 expects this bill will be amended to contain additional  
                 non-controversial measures as it moves through the  
                 process.









































                                    POSITIONS
           
           Sponsor:
           
          Author

           Support:
           
          AT&T

           Oppose:
           
          None on file

          







































               Randy Chinn 
               SB 1891 Analysis
               Hearing Date:  April 13, 2004