BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  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






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           Opposition 
           
          None on file.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    DaVina Flemings / U. & C. / (916) 
          319-2083