BILL ANALYSIS
AB 610
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Date of Hearing: May 2, 2005
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
Lloyd E. Levine, Chair
AB 610 (Calderon) - As Introduced: February 17, 2005
SUBJECT : Telecommunications: mobile telephony services.
SUMMARY : This bill requires cellular telephone companies to
provide subscribers a means to obtain information about the
internet and text messaging usage and charges associated with
their service plan. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires providers of mobile telephony services to provide
subscribers with a means of obtaining reasonably current
information regarding text messaging charges and internet
usage.
2)Changes the implementation date by which providers of mobile
telephony services must provide service usage data to
customers from January 1, 2004, to January 1, 2006.
3)Makes conforming changes to the findings and declarations of
SB 1903 (O'Connell), Chapter 286, Statutes of 2002.
EXISTING LAW
1)Requires a provider of mobile telephony services to provide
subscribers with a means to obtain information on the
subscriber's calling plan, including roaming usage and
charges.
2)Makes legislative findings that mobile telephony service
subscribers may be unable to monitor their service usage and
charges.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : According to the author's office, the purpose of
this bill is to prevent consumers from receiving unexpectedly
high cellular phone bills. The author notes that consumers can
currently access information regarding the amount of minutes
used and roaming charges, but not information on text messaging
charges or internet usage.
AB 610
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1)Background: Most cellular telephone service plans include a
specified number of minutes
with the monthly service plan. Minutes used beyond the allotted
amount are subject to a per-minute charge. Data service
options, including text messaging and Internet access, can be
added to service plans offered by most carriers for an
additional fee. The charges for using text messaging are either
1) a flat rate for sending or receiving unlimited text messages
or 2) a specified charge per text message sent. Internet access
via cellular phone is typically billed per minute of usage,
similar to voice calls placed with cellular phones.
Data service usage by wireless service customers in the United
States is increasingly popular. Information obtained from one
carrier indicates that its customers sent over 3.6 billion text
messages nationwide in the first quarter of 2005.
2)Consumer need for information: Since 2002, the Legislature
has taken several steps to
ensure that wireless customers have reasonable access to their
current account information. This information allows consumers
to modify their usage on a monthly basis to avoid incurring
charges over the cost of their monthly plan. SB 1903
(O'Connell), Chapter 286, Statutes of 2002, required cellular
telephone companies to provide customers with a way to obtain
current information on their calling plans and usage. AB 1379
(Calderon), Chapter 333, Statutes of 2003, extended the
information available to subscribers to including roaming
charges in addition to minute usage. Provisions in both of
these measures required wireless service providers to allow
customers access to this information by January 1, 2004.
Neither of these bills required the provision of data service
usage information as proposed in this bill.
3)Federal Pre-emption: The Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) licenses and
partially regulates providers of commercial mobile radio
service, including providers of cellular radiotelephone service,
broadband Personal Communications Services (PCS), and digital
Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) services. Under federal law, no
state or local government may regulate the entry of or the rates
charged by any commercial mobile service. However, states are
generally not prohibited from regulating the other terms and
conditions of commercial mobile radio service.
AB 610
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The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) considers
current law regarding the disclosure of minutes and roaming
information to be "other terms and conditions" within the scope
of PUC jurisdiction. However, a November 2004 order from the
FCC pre-empted states from regulating "information services,"
which could include text messaging and Internet access via cell
phones. The question of whether the provisions of this bill
should be classified as "other terms and conditions" or as
"information services" has not been settled.
4)Does this bill take a step backwards: Language in the bill
changes the implementation date
of Public Utilities Code Section 2890.2 from January 1, 2004 to
January 1, 2006. This would allow any carrier in violation of
the provisions of SB 1903 an additional six to eight months to
implement the minutes and roaming provisions in current statute
as well as the text messaging and Internet usage provisions of
this bill. The author's office has indicated that it is not the
intention of the author to delay the effective date of the
entire section. The author and committee may wish to consider
restricting the January 1, 2006, implementation date to the text
messaging and internet usage provisions added by this bill.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Adam Hunt / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083