BILL NUMBER: AB 67	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 2, 2005

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member  Chavez   Levine


                        DECEMBER 21, 2004

   An act to add Section  2891.5   747  to
the Public Utilities Code, relating to  telecommunications
  electricity  .


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 67, as amended,  Chavez   Levine  .
 Telecommunications: customer proprietary network information
  Electricity: rates: report to Legislature  .
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including  telephone
  electrical  corporations.  Existing law
prescribes the circumstances under which telephone and telegraph
corporations may release information regarding residential
subscribers without their written consent.   Existing
law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every
public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and
reasonable.  
   Existing law authorized the Department of Water Resources, until
January 1, 2003, to enter into contracts for the purchase of
electricity, and to sell electricity to retail end-use customers and,
with specified exceptions, local publicly owned electric utilities,
at not more than the department's acquisition costs and to recovery
those costs through the issuance of bonds, to be repaid by
ratepayers.  
   This bill would require the commission to report to the
Legislature, by June 1, 2006, and by June 1 of each year thereafter,
a 10-year forecast for the different aspects and elements of
electricity rates for each class of ratepayers, meeting specified
requirements, for each electrical corporation. The bill would require
the commission to use the forecasts to develop policies that reduce,
and eventually eliminate, fixed costs for bond debt incurred by the
Department of Water Resources for power purchase contracts and
stranded costs inherent in electricity rates for all classes. The
bill would require the commission to ensure that reductions created
by retiring debt or expiring costs are not replaced by other utility
costs, new public goods programs, or increased costs of existing
public goods programs.   
   Under the federal Communications Act of 1934, as amended, a
telecommunications carrier has a duty to protect the confidentiality
of proprietary information of customers. The act limits the use,
disclosure, or access to customer proprietary network information, as
defined. Pursuant to the act, the Federal Communications Commission
has adopted regulations that, among other things, require specified
notice to customers and establish procedures for telecommunications
carriers and affiliates to follow in obtaining opt-in approval and
opt-out approval for the use, disclosure, or access to customer
proprietary network information.  
   This bill would prohibit a telephone corporation or an affiliate,
as defined, of a telephone corporation from discriminating between
customers based upon a customer's consent, or refusal to consent, to
provide opt-in or opt-out approval to the use or disclosure of, or
access to, customer proprietary network information pursuant to the
above-described federal law and regulations. The bill would prohibit
a telephone corporation or an affiliate from offering any financial
inducement to obtain a customer's consent to the use or disclosure
of, or access to, a customer's proprietary network information
pursuant to the above-described federal law and regulations.

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  
  SECTION 1.  Section 2891.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code,
to read: 
   SECTION 1.    Section 747 is added to the  
Public Utilities Code   , to read:  
   747.
   (a) Notwithstanding Section 7550.5 of the Government Code, the
commission shall report to the Legislature, by June 1, 2006, and by
June 1 of each year thereafter, a 10-year forecast for the different
aspects and elements of electricity rates for each class of
ratepayers, for each electrical corporation. To perform these
forecasts, the commission may require submission of pro-forma
analyses, debt retirement schedules, amortization schedules,
wholesale energy cost projections, resource plans, market
assessments, and related outlooks from electrical corporations, gas
corporations, and energy market participants. The yearly reports
beginning June 1, 2007, shall include a detailed description of any
changes in projections or assumptions that may be different from the
previous year's forecast. For purposes of this subdivision, "energy
market participants" includes any entity that is a "market
participant" as defined in the Master Definitions Supplement of the
California Independent System Operator Corporation tariff approved by
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or its successor, and the
Independent System Operator incorporated pursuant to Section 340.
   (b) In developing the forecasts prepared pursuant to subdivision
(a), the commission shall do all of the following:
   (1) Provide detailed quantitative and descriptive information
about the elements of electricity rates, including timelines.
   (2) Develop and maintain the analytical capability sufficient to
answer inquiries about electricity rates from government, market
participants, and the public.
   (3) Analyze and develop ratemaking policies.
   (4) Provide an analytical foundation for regulatory and policy
decisionmaking.
   (5) Facilitate efficient and reliable electricity markets.
   (c) The commission shall use the 10-year forecasts to develop
policies that reduce, and eventually eliminate, fixed costs for bond
debt incurred pursuant to Division 27 (commencing with Section 80000)
of the Water Code and stranded costs inherent in electricity rates
for all classes. The commission shall ensure that reductions created
by retiring debt or expiring costs are not replaced by other utility
costs, new public goods programs, or increased costs of existing
public goods programs.   

   2891.5.
    (a)No telephone corporation or an affiliate of a telephone
corporation, shall not discriminate between customers based upon the
customer's consent, or refusal to consent, to provide opt-in approval
or opt-out approval of the use or disclosure of, or access to,
customer proprietary network information pursuant to Section 222 of
Title 47 of the United States Code and Part 64 of Title 47 of the
Code of Federal Regulations.
   (b) A telephone corporation or an affiliate of a telephone
corporation shall not offer any financial inducement to obtain a
customer's consent to the use or disclosure of, or access to,
customer proprietary network information pursuant to Section 222 of
Title 47 of the United States Code and Part 64 of Title 47 of the
Code of Federal Regulations.
   (c) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
   (1) "Affiliate" has the same meaning given the term in paragraph
(1) of Section 153 of Title 47 of the United States Code.
   (2) "Customer proprietary network information" has the same
meaning as given the term in Section 222 of Title 47 of the United
States Code.
   (3) "Discriminate" means a difference in treatment or favor as a
result of the customer's decision.