BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 136
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Date of Hearing: April 4, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
Steven Bradford, Chair
AB 136 (Beall) - As Amended: March 14, 2011
SUBJECT : Telecommunications: universal service: speech
disabilities.
SUMMARY : Expands the California Public Utilities Commission
(PUC) Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program to include
assistance to individuals with speech disabilities.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the PUC to expand the Deaf and Disabled
Telecommunications Program to include assistance to
individuals with speech disabilities, including assistance to
purchase speech-generating devices, accessories, mounting
systems, and specialized telecommunications equipment,
including infrared telephones, speaker phones, and telephone
interface devices, are funded through the program.
2)Requires the PUC to prescribe eligibility standards for the
expanded program. The PUC shall ensure that only individuals
who are both residents of the state and speech impaired as
certified by a licensed physician, licensed speech-language
pathologist, or qualified state or federal agency are
eligible.
3)States the PUC shall provide to each eligible applicant the
appropriate equipment consistent with the recommendation of a
licensed speech-language pathologist.
4)Requires the PUC to ensure that the equipment provided is
consistent with the economy, efficiency, and quality of
equipment that is available for purchase in the state.
5)Allows the PUC to adopt further rules for the purposes of
implementing the provisions in this bill.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the PUC has regulatory authority over public
utilities, including telephone corporations.
2)Requires the PUC to oversee administration of the state's
universal service programs, including the deaf and disabled
programs.
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3)States that the existing deaf and disabled programs universal
programs, among other things, requires the PUC to design and
implement a program to provide a telecommunications device
capable of serving the needs of individuals who are deaf or
hearing impaired, together with a single party line, at no
charge additional to the basic service rate, to any subscriber
who is certified as an individual who is deaf or hearing
impaired.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : According to the author, this bill will further not
only the intent of the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications
Program (DDTP), but also state and federal antidiscrimination
laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is
intended to ensure that people with disabilities have access to
auxiliary aids and services necessary to ensure effective
communication. The author states that "no individual should be
prevented from making or receiving a telephone call now that the
technology exists to make it possible through the state program
established to ensure that very access".
1)Background : Universal service, a concept that basic telephone
service be affordable and
ubiquitously available to all members of society, is a
longstanding cornerstone of the California Legislature and the
PUC's telecommunications policy.
The Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program (DDTP) is
administered by the PUC, and provides Californians who are deaf
and disabled with equipment and relay services through the
California Telephone Access Program (CTAP) and the California
Relay Service (CRS). The DDTP and CTAP provide a
telecommunications device capable of serving the needs of
individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired, together with a
single party line, at no charge additional to the basic exchange
rate. Any subscriber who is certified as an individual who is
deaf or hearing impaired by a licensed physician, surgeon,
audiologist, or qualified state or federal agency, as determined
by the PUC, and any subscriber that is an organization
representing individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired may
receive such a telecommunications device.
The PUC has also designed and implemented a program whereby
specialized or supplemental telephone communications equipment
may be provided to subscribers who are certified to be disabled
at no charge additional to the basic exchange rate. The
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certification, including a statement of visual or medical need
for specialized telecommunications equipment, is provided by a
licensed optometrist or physician and surgeon or by a qualified
state or federal agency as determined by the PUC.
Funds for the DDTP are collected via a surcharge applied to a
subscriber's intrastate telecommunications service.
2)Program administration : DDTP is administered and operated by
the PUC with advisory
input from two advisory boards: 1) the Telecommunications Access
for the Deaf and Disabled Administrative Committee (TADDAC) and
2) the Equipment Program Advisory Committee (EPAC). DDTP is
funded by an all-end-user surcharge on landline and wireless
phone bills which is the California Relay Service and
Communications Device Fund (CRSCDF) surcharge. This
all-end-user surcharge is billed and collected by
telecommunications carriers which, in turn, remit the surcharge
monies to a financial institution as directed by the PUC or its
representatives.
The PUC continued to expand pilot efforts involving wireless
phones in 2009-10 with the Jitterbug cell phone. Pilot
participants are required to be California LifeLine eligible and
CTAP certified. The Jitterbug pilot program is now closed to
new participants. However, given the success of the pilot
program, the PUC issued Decision 10-11-033 which directed that
wireless equipment become a permanent part of the DDTP and CTAP.
3)Issue : This bill would require the PUC to expand the DDTP to
include assistance to
individuals with speech disabilities. The DDTP has been
expanded over the years to include people with disabilities
other than deafness and hearing impairments, including those
with speech disabilities. While most people with speech
disabilities can utilize either the Relay Service or basic
technology used by people who are deaf or hearing impaired,
there are individuals who cannot use such devices and require
more sophisticated technology, such as those individuals with
advanced Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Much of this
technology, including speech-generating devices that do not
require extensive dexterity, has been developed only recently.
There is some lack of clarity as to whether such newer assistive
technology, particularly speech-generating devices, is currently
available through the DDTP.
Speech-generating devices have to be custom calibrated for each
individual and cost an average of $4,000 - $8,000 per device.
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These devices are generally covered by MediCal and Medicare, as
well as most private insurance companies, but it has been
represented by some stakeholders that approximately 200-300
people in the state fall through the cracks and could benefit
from the devices if they were eligible through the DDTP.
4)Who else is doing it : The Public Utility Commission of Texas
administers the Specialized
Telecommunications Assistance Program which is a statewide
program that provides financial assistance for the purchase of
specialized assistive equipment for individuals with a
disability that interferes with their ability to access the
telephone network. Similarly, the Public Utility Commission of
Oregon oversees the Telecommunication Devices Access Program
which loans speech-generating devices to eligible individuals
who have severe or greater speech impairment.
5)Concerns : The Disability Rights of California petitioned the
Communications Division of
the PUC to conduct a pilot program to trial add speech
generating devices to the DDTP. The Communications Division
spent over two years researching and analyzing how to integrate
speech-generating devices into the DDTP. The Communications
Division concluded that it would not be possible to integrate
the devices because they are more akin to medical devices rather
than telecommunications devices, which are not funded nor
equipped to be handled by the DDTP. In their efforts to develop
a speech-generating devices pilot, the PUC encountered numerous
contracting and procurement issues related to implementing a
pilot program. The PUC claims that because speech-generating
devices are medically necessary devices and not
telecommunications equipment that is provided through the DDTP,
they do not fit into any of the state's known procurement
methods. If the speech-generating devices are integrated into
the program, these devices could open up the program to numerous
other medical devices which is beyond the purposes of the DDTP.
Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the Department of
General Services would approve the PUC's request for funding.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California ALS Advocacy Committee (CAAC)
California Speech-Language-Hearing Association (CSHA)
Disability Rights California
DynaVox Technologies
AB 136
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : DaVina Flemings / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083