BILL NUMBER: AB 818 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 10, 1999
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 28, 1999
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Knox
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Alquist, Briggs, Calderon, Cox,
Kuehl, Longville, Romero, and Washington)
FEBRUARY 24, 1999
An act to add Sections 7934, 7935, 7936, 7937, 7938,
7939, and 7940 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to
telecommunications , and declaring the urgency thereof, to take
effect immediately .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 818, as amended, Knox. New area codes.
Existing
(1) Existing federal law provides for a coordinator for
California area code relief. Existing law establishes a process for
that coordinator and providers, as defined, to develop an area code
relief plan, as prescribed.
This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to develop
and implement any measures that it determines to be available for
telecommunications service providers that possess telephone number
prefixes to efficiently allocate telephone numbers within those
prefixes. The bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to
immediately request the Federal Communications Commission to delegate
to the state authority over telecommunications under specified
federal communications law, to the extent that the delegation will
permit the Public Utilities Commission to implement specified
measures. The bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to
request, and telecommunications providers to provide, certain
information on telephone number use. The bill would require the
Public Utilities Commission to prepare and submit to the Legislature
a report on that information on or before July 1, 2001. The bill
would require the Public Utilities Commission to impose certain
requirements on telephone number assignments.
The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations.
(2) The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Vote: majority 2/3 .
Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local
program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
Consumer Area Code Relief Act of 1999.
SEC. 2. Section 7934 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
7934. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The number of area codes in this state has more than doubled
since 1991.
(b) The proliferation of area codes has caused undue hardship on
citizens of this state, who have begun to be forced into new area
codes after years of having the same telephone number.
(c) That proliferation has substantially increased costs to
businesses, individuals, and government agencies.
(d) New area codes require the replacement of business cards and
letterhead stationery, and companies must use employee time
contacting their customers to ensure that those customers are able to
continue to reach the affected company.
(e) The proliferation of area codes has also reduced worker
productivity as employees begin using new and unfamiliar area codes.
(f) It is the policy of the Legislature that existing area codes
should be preserved for as long as possible.
(g) It is the further policy of the Legislature that the hardship
currently experienced by telecommunications customers as a result of
the creation of new area codes should be alleviated.
(h) For all of the reasons stated above, it is necessary for the
commission, as a public agency, to take all possible measures to
protect area codes as a public resource, stop area code
proliferation, and review their existing practice of establishing new
area code regions and the creation of area code overlays.
SEC. 3. Section 7935 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
7935. The commission shall develop and implement any measures it
determines to be available for telecommunications service providers
that possess prefixes to efficiently allocate telephone numbers
within those prefixes.
SEC. 4. Section 7936 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
7936. The Public Utilities Commission shall immediately request
the Federal Communications Commission to delegate to the state
authority over telecommunications numbering under Section 251(e)(1)
of the Federal Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)(1)), to
the extent that the delegation will permit the Public Utilities
Commission to implement measures to conserve telephone numbers,
including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(a) Establishing the minimum use and available efficiency measures
for prefixes.
(b) Requiring telecommunications carriers to return unused or
underused prefixes and to return prefixes that have been obtained in
a manner contrary to federal or state numbering guidelines or
protocols.
(c) Establishing individual number pooling, mandatory pooling in
1000 telephone number blocks, and interim unassigned number porting.
SEC. 5. Section 7937 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
7937. (a) On or before March 1, 2000, the commission shall
request from each telecommunications service provider doing business
in this state that possesses a telephone number prefix, or a portion
thereof, the specific telephone numbers and the quantities within the
possession of the provider, both used and unused.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 7550.5 of the Government Code, the
commission shall use the information obtained pursuant to subdivision
(a) and any other information required by the commission, to prepare
and submit to the Legislature, on or before, July 1, 2001, an audit
of telecommunications industry use rates.
SEC. 6. Section 7938 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
7938. The commission shall require, as an interim measure until
the commission develops procedures for number pooling, that number
assignments made by telecommunications service providers to their
customers shall be made first from prefixes that are more than 25
percent used. A telecommunications service provider may assign
numbers from prefixes with less than 25 percent use only to the
extent necessary, if numbers from prefixes that are more than 25
percent used are not otherwise available.
SEC. 7. Section 7939 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
7939. If the commission establishes a process to ensure that
telephone numbers can be allocated in blocks smaller than 10,000, the
commission shall require that a telecommunications service provider
return to the North American Numbering Plan Administrator blocks of
telephone numbers for reassignment, in a quantity determined by the
commission.
SEC. 8. Section 7940 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
7940. A telecommunications service provider doing business in
this state that possesses one or more telephone number prefixes, or
portions thereof, shall provide to the commission, upon request, use
information pertaining to both used and unused prefixes, according to
any schedule established by the commission.
SEC. 9. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to address as soon as possible the rapid proliferation of
new area codes, including the imposition of planned area code
overlays, which causes undue hardship to the citizens of this state,
it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.