BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1741
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 23, 2000

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS 
                              Carole Migden, Chairwoman

                     SB 1741 (Bowen) - As Amended:  July 3, 2000 

          Policy Committee:                              Utilities and  
          Commerce     Vote:                            9-3

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires that the Public Utilities Commission (PUC)  
          request authority from the Federal Communications Commission  
          (FCC) to require telephone corporations to establish technology
          specific area codes and permit seven-digit dialing within the  
          technology specific area code and the underlying pre-existing  
          area code.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Absorbable costs to the PUC to seek the specified authority.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background and Purpose  .  Chapter 809, Statutes of 1999 (AB  
            406, Knox), required the PUC to develop and implement any  
            available conservation measures to efficiently allocate  
            telephone numbers.  In April 1999, the PUC sought authority  
            from FCC to implement certain conservation measures and also  
            sought a waiver federal regulations in order to implement a  
            technology-specific or service-specific area code.  In  
            September 1999, FCC granted the PUC with authority to  
            implement conservation measures, but as yet has taken no  
            action on the technology specific waiver petition.  

            The author has introduced this bill in furtherance of the  
            relief sought by that petition in order "to provide relief  
            from unnecessary and inconvenient area code proliferation."   
            This bill requires CPUC to seek further authority from FCC to  
            implement technology specific area codes  and  to permit  
            seven-digit dialing within that code and the underlying  








                                                                  SB 1741
                                                                  Page  2

            pre-existing area codes.  In its pending filing with the FCC,  
            the PUC did not seek authority to waive the 10 digit dialing  
            requirement for all telephone calls within and between all  
            areas codes covered by an area code overlay.

           1)Opposition  . Cellular Carriers Association of California (CCAC)  
            believes that the "technology specific overlay does not offer  
            a viable solution to the problem of telephone number scarcity  
            throughout the state."  CCAC further asserts that "it is  
            anti-competitive and discriminates among communication  
            technologies and would result in consumer nightmare relative  
            to the reprogramming of millions of wireless phones."

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)319-2081