State Legislative - Week of January 15, 2010

Legislation 

 

Customer Notifications.  SB 437 (Pavley) would have required a “local exchange service provider” to notify customers at least 60 days in advance of any proposed change to its service and require that the notice be placed on the front page of the paper billing statement or online statement. It would have also prohibited charging customers an early termination fee if the customer were to cancel service within 30 days of the effective date of the service change.

Initially, SB 437 proposed to eliminate retail charges for unlisted directory services but the Author withdrew that proposal.

 

The proposal was sponsored by The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and supported by the Division of Rate Payer Advocates, California Public Interest Research Group (CalPRIG), and Communications Workers of America. CCTA, along with AT&T, Verizon and the small telecommunications companies opposed the measure since the California Public Utilities Commission has already established customer notification requirements after a thorough public rulemaking process. This bill was heard in the Senate Energy Committee this week and was defeated (1-7).   CCTA position Opposed.