Bill Text

Bill Information


Bill PDF |Add To My Favorites | print page

SB-566 Telecommunications: Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act: notification of rural outages.(2017-2018)

SHARE THIS: share this bill in Facebook share this bill in Twitter
Date Published: 02/17/2017 02:00 PM
SB566:v99#DOCUMENT


CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 566

Introduced by Senator McGuire
(Coauthor: Senator Hill)

February 17, 2017

An act to add Section 53119.5 to the Government Code, relating to telecommunications.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 566, as introduced, McGuire. Telecommunications: Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act: notification of rural outages.
Existing provisions of the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act establish the calling number “911” as the primary emergency telephone number for use in the state and require the providing of enhanced service capable of selective routing, automatic number identification, or automatic location identification. The act requires a telephone corporation serving rural telephone areas that cannot provide enhanced 911 emergency telephone service capable of selective routing, automatic number identification, or automatic location identification to present to the Office of Emergency Services a comprehensive plan detailing a schedule by which their facilities will be converted to be compatible with the enhanced emergency telephone system.
This bill would require a facilities-based provider of telecommunications services that the Federal Communications Commission requires to provide access to 911 service to provide responder outage notification by email to the Office of Emergency Services whenever there is a rural outage, as defined, within 60 minutes of discovering the rural outage. The bill would make the Office of Emergency Services responsible for notifying any applicable county office of emergency services and the sheriff of any county affected by the outage. The bill would require the responder outage notification to the Office of Emergency Services to include the telecommunications provider’s contact name and calling number and a description of the estimated area affected by the outage. The bill would require the telecommunications services provider to notify the Office of Emergency Services of the estimated time to repair the outage and when service is restored. The bill would require that the telecommunications service provider ensure that the calling number provided to the Office of Emergency Services with the responder outage notification is staffed by the indicated contact person, or by a person qualified to respond to inquiries about the outage, at all times until the provider notifies the office that service has been restored.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 (a) This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the 911 Emergency Reliability and Public Safety Act.
(b) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) The State of California currently has no specific requirements with respect to the reporting of major service interruptions that impair the ability of persons to call and connect to the local emergency telephone system by dialing 911.
(2) The Federal Communications Commission has acknowledged that providing access to the 911 emergency call system includes maintaining the function of the communications networks required to initiate 911 calls and to deliver those calls and that there is a shared authority of the federal government and states to collectively oversee all components of 911 service.
(3) In order to protect the health and safety of persons living in rural areas of the state requiring reliable access to the 911 emergency call system, it is necessary to adopt requirements for the reporting of major service interruptions in rural areas of the state.

SEC. 2.

 Section 53119.5 is added to the Government Code, to read:

53119.5.
 (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Access to 911 service” means the ability of a person to call and connect to the local emergency telephone systems described in this article.
(2) “Outage” has the same meaning as defined by the Federal Communications Commission in Section 4.5 of Part 4 of Subchapter A of Chapter 1 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(3) “Rural county” means a county in California for which the United States Census Bureau has measured a population density of 600 or less per square mile.
(4) “Rural outage” means an outage of telecommunications service in a rural county over transport facilities, experienced by a facilities-based provider of telecommunications services that the Federal Communications Commission requires to provide access to 911 service, that persists more than one hour after discovery of the outage.
(5) “Telecommunications service” has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 2892.1 of the Public Utilities Code.
(6) “Transport facilities” mean the components of a telecommunications service provider’s wireless or wireline infrastructure that connect network elements.
(b) All facilities-based providers of telecommunications services that the Federal Communications Commission requires to provide access to 911 service shall provide responder outage notification whenever there is a rural outage. Responder outage notification shall be provided within 60 minutes of discovery of the outage by the provider to the Office of Emergency Services, which shall be responsible for notifying any applicable county office of emergency services and the sheriff of any county affected by the outage. The responder outage notification to the Office of Emergency Services shall be by email, and shall include the telecommunications provider’s contact name and calling number and a description of the estimated area affected by the outage. The telecommunications services provider shall also notify the Office of Emergency Services by email of both of the following:
(1) The estimated time to repair the outage.
(2) When achieved, the restoration of service.
(c) The telecommunications service provider shall ensure that the calling number provided to the Office of Emergency Services with the responder outage notification is staffed by the indicated contact person, or by a person qualified to respond to inquiries about the outage, at all times until the provider notifies the office that service has been restored.
(d) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the Office of Emergency Services shall keep responder outage notifications confidential and shall not disclose the contents of the notifications.