BILL NUMBER: SB 534	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Runner

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2005

   An act to add Section 7915 to the Public Utilities Code, relating
to telecommunications.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 534, as introduced, Runner.   Telecommunications: mobile
telephony services.
   The existing federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 preempts any
state or local statute or regulation that may prohibit or have the
effect of prohibiting the ability of any entity to provide any
interstate or intrastate telecommunications service, but does not
prohibit a state from imposing on a competitively neutral basis,
requirements necessary to preserve and advance universal service,
protect the public safety and welfare, ensure the continued quality
of telecommunications services, and safeguard the rights of
consumers. The prohibition also contains a "safe harbor" that does
not affect the authority of a state or local government to manage the
public rights-of-way or to require fair and reasonable compensation
from telecommunications providers, on a competitively neutral and
nondiscriminatory basis, for use of public rights-of-way on a
nondiscriminatory basis.
   Under existing law, the Federal Communications Commission licenses
and partially regulates providers of commercial mobile radio
service, including providers of cellular radiotelephone service
(cellular), broadband Personal Communications Services (PCS), and
digital Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) services (collectively, mobile
telephony service providers). Under existing law, no state or local
government may regulate the entry of, or the rates charged by, any
commercial mobile radio service, but a state or local government is
generally not prohibited from regulating the other terms and
conditions of commercial mobile radio service.
   Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to
regulate telecommunications services and rates of telephone
corporations, except to the extent regulation of commercial mobile
radio service is preempted by federal regulation, and to require
telephone corporations to provide customer services.
   This bill would require that a provider of mobile telephony
services, as defined, post information on its Internet Web site to
inform subscribers and the public when a public hearing is scheduled
relative to a request for authorization to erect towers and other
facilities, including wireless repeaters, amplifiers, regenerative
repeaters, and regenerators, necessary to support the provider's
wireless communication network.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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


  SECTION 1.  Section 7915 is added to the  Public Utilities Code ,
to read:
   7915.  (a) A provider of mobile telephony services shall post
information on its Internet Web site to inform subscribers and the
public when a public hearing is scheduled relative to a request for
authorization to erect towers and other facilities, including
wireless repeaters, amplifiers, regenerative repeaters, and
regenerators, necessary to support the provider's wireless
communication network.(b) For purposes of this section, "mobile
telephony services" means commercially available interconnected
mobile phone services that provide access to the public switched
telephone network (PSTN) via mobile communication devices employing
radiowave technology to transmit calls, including cellular
radiotelephone, broadband Personal Communications Services (PCS), and
digital Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR).