BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                          Senator Carole Migden, Chairwoman

                                           210 (Bowen)
          
          Hearing Date:  4/18/05          Amended: 3/14/05
          Consultant:  Lisa Matocq        Policy Vote: E, U & C 10-0 
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY:   

          SB 210 extends the sunset, from January 1, 2006 to January 1,  
          2010, on the surcharge on intrastate telephone service used to  
          pay for the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program (DDTP),  
          which provides telecommunications devices and services to the  
          deaf and hearing impaired and to the disabled.  
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions               2005-06     2006-07    2007-08    Fund
                                                                   
          DDTP surcharge           Annual revenues of $60,000+ annually     
           Special*
                                   to fund the DDTP

          *Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program Fund          
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: 
          
          The DDTP program was established in 1983 and presently serves  
          hundreds of thousands of Californians. Existing law also  
          requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to establish a  
          rate recovery mechanism (in this case, a surcharge) to recover  
          the costs of the program.  The PUC may adjust the surcharge,  
          subject to a statutory ceiling of one-half of one percent; the  
          surcharge is currently 0.30%.  Anticipated revenues for fiscal  
          year 2004-05 are $69.6 million. The surcharge authority sunsets  
          January 1, 2006.

          Pending legislation, AB 1735 (Assembly Utilities and Commerce  
          Committee, Levine), in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, is  
          identical to this bill.    











          Prior legislation, AB 219 (Chavez, Ch. 109, St. of 2001) also  
          extended the sunset for four years, from January 1, 2002 to  
          January 1, 2006.