Today's Law As Amended


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AB-2213 Moore Universal Telephone Service Act.(2009-2010)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Ensuring that all state residents have access to affordable, reliable, and high-quality basic telephone service is a longstanding policy of the state.
(b) To help achieve this policy, the Legislature enacted the Moore Universal Telephone Service Act that created a lifeline class of telephone service for low-income citizens.
(c) Technologies beyond traditional landline telephones are now available in California and could be used to offer low-income citizens access to affordable, reliable, and high-quality basic telephone service.
(d) If alternative technologies are used to provide lifeline telephone service, the technologies should provide comparable access to emergency and community services as traditional landline telephone service, and the commission shall ensure that low-income consumers using alternative technologies continue to have access to reliable, high-quality, and affordable voice telecommunications services.

SEC. 2.

 Section 871.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

871.5.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The offering of high-quality basic telephone service at affordable rates to the greatest number of citizens has been a longstanding goal of the state.
(b) The Moore Universal Telephone Service Act has been, and continues to be, an important means for achieving universal service by making basic telephone service affordable to low-income households through the creation of a lifeline class of service.
(c) Every means should be employed by the commission and telephone corporations to ensure that every household qualified to receive lifeline telephone service is informed of and is afforded the opportunity to subscribe to that service.
(d) The furnishing of lifeline telephone service is in the public interest and should be supported fairly and equitably by every telephone corporation, and the commission, in administering the lifeline telephone service program, should implement the program in a way that is equitable, nondiscriminatory, and without competitive consequences for the telecommunications industry in California.

SEC. 3.

 Section 872 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

872.
 As used in this article, “household” means a residential dwelling that is the principal place of residence of the lifeline telephone service subscriber, and excludes any industrial, commercial, or other nonresidential building.

SEC. 4.

 Section 873 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

873.
 (a) (1)  The commission shall annually do all of the following:
(1) (A)  Designate a class of lifeline service necessary to meet minimum communications needs.
(2) (B)  Set the rates and charges for that service.
(3) (C)  Develop eligibility criteria for that service.
(4) (D)  Assess the degree of achievement of universal service, including telephone penetration rates by income, ethnicity, and geography.
(2) This information shall be annually reported to the Legislature by the commission in a document which can be made public.
(b) Minimum communications needs include, includes,  but are is  not limited to, the ability to originate and receive calls and the ability to access electronic information services.

SEC. 5.

 Section 878 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

878.
 (a)  A lifeline telephone service subscriber shall be provided with one lifeline subscription, as defined by the commission, at the subscriber’s  his or her  principal place of residence, and no other member of that subscriber’s family or household who maintains residence at that place is eligible for lifeline telephone service.
(b)  An applicant for lifeline telephone service may report only one address in this state as the principal place of residence.
(c) Multiple lifeline telephone service subscribers may maintain the same address if they are not members of the same household.
(d) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Adult” means any person 18 years of age or older.
(2) “Economic unit” means all adult individuals contributing to and sharing in the income and expenses of a household.
(3) “Household” means any group of individuals, including the subscriber, who are living together at the same address and as one economic unit. A household may include related and unrelated persons. If an adult has no, or minimal, income and lives with someone who provides financial support to that adult, both persons shall be part of the same household. A child under 18 years of age and living with a parent or guardian shall be part of the same household as the parent or guardian.
SEC. 6.
 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.