BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 2012
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 9, 2000

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS 
                              Carole Migden, Chairwoman

                    SB 2012 (Speier) - As Amended:  June 29, 2000 

          Policy Committee:                              Utilities and  
          Commerce     Vote:                            10-0 (Consent)

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill appropriates $25 million to the Office of Emergency  
          Services (OES) for grants to assist public television and radio  
          stations in converting to a digital broadcasting signal.  The  
          bill also requires recipients to match the state grants on a  
          dollar-for-dollar basis.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          One-time $25 million General Fund appropriation.  

          (The 2000-01 Budget Act appropriated $5 million to assist public  
          television stations convert to digital.)

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  .  Pursuant to the Telecommunications Act of 1996,  
            the Federal Communications Commission requires that public  
            television stations change their broadcast signal from analog  
            to digital by 2003.  The federal mandate only pertains to the  
             television  signal  broadcast  function.  This bill authorizes  
            state grants for the TV broadcast and  production  functions,  
            and also for public  radio  stations, which are not covered  
            under the federal mandate.  According to the author, public  
            television broadcasters foresee a need to digitalize the  
            production function in order to take full advantage of the  
            digital broadcast signal.  

           2)Conversion Costs  .  There are 14 public television stations and  
            23 public radio stations in California.  The total digital  
            conversion costs for these stations-including both the  








                                                                  SB 2012
                                                                  Page  2

            broadcast and production functions-is $140 million.  This bill  
            would allocate 75 percent of the grant monies to the  
            television stations and 25 percent to the radio stations.   
            Fifty percent (50%) of the funds in each pool would be divided  
            equally among the stations in that grant pool.  The remaining  
            50% of the funds in each grant pool would be divided among  
            stations in proportion to their non-federal financial support.

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