State Legislature - Week of October 16, 2009

Regulatory Update
Cable Successfully Blocks “Consensus” Plan to In Increase Number Porting Requirements. 
Yesterday Cox, Comcast, and NCTA successfully urged the North American Numbering Counsel (NANC) to reject a plan supported by ILECs and Wireless industries that would have recommended that the FCC include up to 111 data fields to the number portability process. The FCC requires only 4 required fields. Cable opposed the plan because competing carrier demand for numerous points of data has been used to delay or deny a customer’s telephone number port request.

NANC did approve, with the support of Cable, other LNPA Working Group recommendations that establish process flows for one business ports for “simple-port” requests.
 
CCTA’s Jerome Candelaria is the Voting Member for NCTA at NANC.

State Legislative Update

Legislature to reconvene January 4, 2010

Commission of the 21st Century Economy Final Report.  Listed below are upcoming Legislative Hearings to discuss the Final Report of the Commission of the 21st Century Economy:

o Monday, November 2, 2009 - 1:30 p.m. — Room 3191
Senate Revenue & Taxation Committee informational Hearing
SUBJECT: Academic Panel on Tax Commission: BNRT Tax Court & Sales Tax Services.

o Monday, December 7, 2009 - 1:30 p.m. — Room 3191
Senate Revenue & Taxation Committee informational Hearing
SUBJECT: Tax Commission Response from Corporations and Organizations.

CCTA Bills Signed by Governor.  Listed below are bills monitored by CCTA that have been signed by the Governor prior to the October 11th deadline.

• Privacy.  AB 524 (Bass) makes it unlawful for a person to sell, transmit, publish, broadcast, or use any images or recordings with the actual knowledge that the images or recordings were obtained illegally and provided compensation, consideration, or remuneration, monetary or otherwise, for the use of, or rights to, the unlawfully obtained images or recordings.  CCTA position is Neutral.

• Transfer of Utility Property.  AB 698 (Skinner) allows the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) staff to approve the transfer of utility property without a vote of the commissioners if the proposal is valued at less than $5 million and is uncontested. The bill also allows the CPUC to consider the transfer of utility property under an expedited process if the CPUC is the responsible agency and if the lead agency has completed the appropriate California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review. The proposal is sponsored by PG&E and is supported by the CPUC and the Southern California Edison.  CCTA position is Neutral.

• Small Claims Court: Equitable Relief.  AB 712 (Evans) would simply clarify that a small claims court has jurisdiction over an action for an injunction or other equitable relief only when a statute expressively authorizes a small claims court to award that relief. Nothing in this bill is intended to expand the jurisdiction of the Small Claims Court. CCTA position is Neutral.

• Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge.  Current law provides that the Warren-911 Emergency Assistance Act establishes the number “911” as the primary emergency telephone number of use in the state. Current law also imposes a surcharge on all intrastate telephone users to fund the 911 emergency telephone system costs. Currently, the surcharge funds are only used to fund equipment, software and databases needed to route 911 calls to the appropriate responding agency.

On a one-time basis only, AB 912 (Torres) authorizes some of the surcharge funds to be used to recruit and train personnel in receiving enhanced “911” calls. CCTA was initially opposed to the measure when the Author was proposing an increase in the surcharge but dropped its opposition after the Author amended AB 912 to simply allow greater flexibility on how funds may be used. CCTA position is Neutral.

• Disposal of Customer Personal Information.  Existing law requires businesses to take all reasonable steps to dispose of customer personal information when no longer needed and provides for civil penalties for any violation. AB 1094 (Conway) adds that any business that “knowingly” violates these provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor. The CCTA position is Neutral.

• Expansion of Contract Translation Requirements.  Existing law requires specified contract that is primarily negotiated in a specified foreign language to be translated prior to the execution of the contract. AB 1160 (Fong) expands this requirement to include any specified contract when any of the material conditions of a contract are also negotiated in a specified foreign language. This expansion does not expand existing CPUC requirements. CCTA position is Neutral.

• Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Programs.  Existing law requires the California Public Utilities Commission to oversee the administration of the state's universal service programs, including the deaf and disabled program. This program is scheduled to sunset on January 1, 2010.  Assembly Bill 1553 (Fuentes) extends the sunset date of the program until January 1, 2014.  CCTA position is Neutral.

• ARRA Matching Fund Requirement.  Existing law establishes the California Advanced Service Fund (CASF), a $100 million program to encourage the deployment of broadband service to unserved and underserved communities. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) establishes a $4.7 billion competitive grant and loan program to encourage the adoption of broadband technology but requires state matching funds. AB 1555 (V. Perez) authorizes any entity offering broadband service to be eligible to participate in the CASF program for the purposes of meeting their ARRA matching funds requirement.  CCTA position is Neutral.

• Electricity Smart Grid Systems.  SB 17 (Padilla) requires the California Public Utilities Commission by July 1, 2010, to determine the requirements for a smart grid deployment plan consistent with the policies set forth in the bill and federal law. The bill requires that the smart grid improve overall efficiency, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of the electrical system operations, planning, and maintenance. The bill also requires each electrical corporation, by July 1, 2011, to develop and submit a smart grid deployment plan to the Commission for approval. The bill authorizes a smart grid deployment plan that is adopted to provide for deployment of smart grid products, technologies, and services by entities other than electrical corporations. CCTA position is Neutral.

• Education: Public Meetings and Hearings.  Existing law requires that the State Board of Education and the State Allocation Board hold their meetings in an open and public manner. SB 312 (Romero) requires the State Board of Education and the State Allocation Board, in consultation with the State Chief Information Officer, to provide for live video and audio transmission of all meetings and hearings that are open to the public through technology that is accessible to as large a segment of the public as possible. All reasonable steps shall be taken to include cable television, Web cast, and the K-12 High Speed Network. CCTA position is Neutral.

• Automatic Renewal and Continuous Service Offers.  SB 340 (Yee) requires any business making an automatic renewal or continuous service offer, as defined, to any consumer in this state, to (1) present the automatic renewal or continuous service offer terms in a clear and conspicuous manner that is capable of being retained by the consumer, (2) first obtain the consumer's affirmative consent before charging the consumer for an automatic renewal or continuous service, and (3) provide the consumer with information on the cancellation policy. Although initially opposed, CCTA negotiated an industry carve-out that resulted in the removal of our opposition. CCTA position is Neutral.

• Public Records Act: Disclosure Exemptions.  SB 359 (Romero) updates the statute within the California Public Records Act (CPRA) that contains an alphabetical list of records that are exempt from disclosure, specifically as they related to workers compensation information. The bill does not establish any new exemption or create any new law. CCTA position is Neutral.

• Property Taxation.  Existing law requires a penalty to be imposed if an entity fails to report a change in ownership within 45 days, but allows the penalty to be extinguished if the change in ownership is reported within 60 days. SB 816 (Ducheny) eliminates the option to extinguish the penalty however the county board of supervisors may order that the penalty be abated, if the entity can prove reasonable cause for the failure to file in a timely fashion.  CCTA position is Careful Watch.

• Sales and Tax Fairness and Simplification Act.  SJR 1 (Ducheny) urges Members of the California congressional delegation to join in support of legislative action by the Congress of the United States to allow states to collect use taxes on products sold over the Internet, and for the President of the United States to sign that legislation. This joint resolution was approved by both the Senate and the Assembly and Chaptered on September 11, 2009.  (Governor does not sign Senate Joint Resolutions).
CCTA position is Neutral.

CCTA Bills Vetoed by Governor.  Listed below are bills being monitored by CCTA that have been vetoed by the Governor by or before the October 11th deadline:

• Task Force for Education Technology.  AB 836 (Torlakson) requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a task force for education technology.  The task force is to be funded by private donations and will make preliminary recommendations on technology and literacy model standards and develop recommendations for a comprehensive statewide plan to increase and enhance the level of technology used to deliver instruction in grades 7 to 12 in California public schools. The state board would be required to adopt a comprehensive statewide plan based on the recommendations of the task force.

The Governor vetoed this measure saying that he has already directed the State’s Chief Information Officer to establish a comparable council to “develop a plan to incorporate digital literacy in our schools and workforce.” The Governor further stated that measure is unnecessary since the State Superintendent of Public Instruction already has the legal authority to establish this task force.  CCTA position is Neutral.

• Federal Tax Law Conformity Bill.  AB 1580 (Calderon) is the Legislature’s federal tax conformity bill that conforms California tax laws to the numerous changes made to the federal income tax law over the past four years. The Governor vetoed the measure because Democrats added an additional provision dealing with erroneous refund claims that was not a part of his agreement with the Legislature.  CCTA position is Neutral.

• Personal Information: Privacy.  Existing law requires businesses in California that owns or licenses computerized data that includes personal information to disclose any breach of the security of the system or data, as defined, following discovery or notification of the security breach person whose unencrypted personal information was, or is reasonably believed to have been acquired by an unauthorized person.

Senate Bill 20 (Simitian) requires any agency, person, or business that is required to issue a security breach notification to provide additional notification, including the type of personal information believed to have been the subject of the breech; the possible date or range of dates of the breech; the toll-free number of major credit reporting agencies; and a general description of the breech incident. The bill also requires any agency, person, or business that is required to issue a security breach notification to more than 500 California residents pursuant to existing law to electronically submit a single sample copy of that security breach notification to the Attorney General.

CCTA was initially opposed to SB 20 but removed its opposition after further discussion with CCTA members and some minor amendments. The Governor vetoed SB 20 stating, “this measure would place additional unnecessary mandates on businesses without a corresponding consumer benefit.” CCTA position is Neutral.

• Eminent Domain: Conservation Easement.  SB 555 (Kehoe) revises the Eminent Domain Law to establish additional requirements for acquisition of property subject to a conservation easement. Specifically, the bill requires the person seeking to acquire the property to give the holder of the conservation easement a notice containing specified information and an opportunity to state any objections to the acquisition. The person seeking to acquire the property must respond to the any objections in writing. The Governor vetoed this measure, stating, “this measure unintentionally provides opponents of controversial infrastructure projects another tool to impede or discourage vital public infrastructure planning and development in energy, water, and transportation which are crucial for our state’s job growth and economic well-being.”  CCTA position is Watch.

Federal Update

Video Competition in a Digital Age.  The Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet will hold a hearing entitled “Video Competition in a Digital Age” on Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building.  The hearing will examine competition in the video programming marketplace, including access by multichannel video programming providers and consumers to programming both via television and the Internet.