BILL NUMBER: AB 818 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 15, 1999
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.
(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
, if it has not done so by the operative date of the bill,
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 study on that
information on or before July 1, 2001. The bill would require
the commission to require the suspension of 10-digit dialing within a
specified area code until the completion of the study. 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: 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. (a) 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.
(b) For the purpose of this section, in accordance with the North
American Numbering Plan, a telephone number consists of a three digit
area code or number plan area (NPA), a three digit prefix or NXX
code, and a four digit line number.
SEC. 4. Section 7936 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
7936. The If, on or before the operative
date of the act adding this section, the Public Utilities Commission
has not yet done so, 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 or portions of those 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 ,
and 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 one or more telephone number
prefixes, or a portion thereof, the specific telephone numbers
and the quantities within the possession of the provider, both
used and unused in use and not in use. The
commission, for the purpose of this section, shall define the terms
"in use" and "not in use." The commission shall determine the
reporting requirements for the information provided to the commission
pursuant to Section 7940 .
(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 a study of telecommunications industry
use rates. The commission shall require 10-digit dialing within
the "310" area code to be suspended until the completion of the
study.
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 or adopts
utilization standards , that number assignments made by
telecommunications service providers to their customers shall be made
first from prefixes that are more than 25 percent used
in use . 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 in use are not
otherwise available.
SEC. 7. Section 7939 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
7939. If the commission or an authorized federal agency
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
those prefixes in use and those prefixes not in use
, 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.