Today's Law As Amended


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SB-1046 Telecommunications: Universal Lifeline Telephone Service Trust Administrative Committee Fund.(2001-2002)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The rapid development and deployment of advanced technologies have been directly linked to the competitiveness of American industry in world markets, economic growth, employment, and prosperity.
(b) Communications technologies, in particular, have proven successful in helping to overcome economic and social polarization that exist as a result of economic disparities among Americans.
(c) According to the Alliance for Public Technology, the economic disparity among Californians is even greater than that of the nation as a whole and the disparity among those living in the Silicon Valley is even more severe.
(d) Many communities across the state are discovering that expanded access to digital technology is an important element of economic self-sufficiency and, as a result, are advocating public policies that encourage aggregation or pooling of demand, vibrant competition for local and long distance services, and network investment in communities.
(e) High speed Internet access is also a critical tool for the competitiveness for California’s business community.
(f) According to the San Francisco Black Chamber of Commerce, many small and medium sized businesses do not have a choice of high speed Internet service providers and many have no high speed Internet access at all.

SEC. 2.

 Section 884 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

884.
 (a) The commission shall, on or before July 1, 2003, issue a plan and strategy to use not more than one-half of the surplus, if any, in the Universal Lifeline Telephone Service Trust Administrative Committee Fund for purposes of providing incentives, as determined by the commission, to telecommunications providers that agree to promote equal access to high speed communications networks by voluntarily offering expanded telecommunications services, with a priority for providing two-way voice, video, and data service, as components of basic service, in currently underserved geographic regions of the state.
(b) This section shall become inoperative on July 2, 2003, and, as of January 1, 2004, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that is enacted before January 1, 2004, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.