State Legislative - Week of April 23, 2010

Abel Maldonado Approved by the Assembly for Lieutenant Governor.  The California Assembly voted 53-21 on Thursday, April 22, 2010, to approve Republican Senator Abel Maldonado’s Lieutenant Governor Nomination.  The Senate approved his nomination several months back, but will need to vote again and could do so as soon as this Monday, April 26, 2010.  

 

Senator Maldonado was appointed to the post by Governor Schwarzenegger in November to fill the vacancy left by John Garamendi who was elected to Congress.  He will be termed-out of the state Legislature in 2012.  If confirmed by the Senate, Senator Maldonado will have to run for a full-term in the Lieutenant Governor seat in the upcoming Republican primary.

Social Networking Internet Websites and Privacy for Minors.  Senate Bill 1361 (Corbett) would fine any social networking Internet website $10,000 for “willfully and knowingly” posting the address and/or phone number of a registered user who is a minor.  Unlike the other introduced social networking legislation, this proposal targets the social networking Internet website and not the sex offender.  Initially, the bill was much broader but in response to opposition, the Author amended and significantly narrowed the focus of the bill.  This bill was approved on the Senate Floor this week and now moves to the Assembly.

 

New Proposed Requirements for Public Utilities Customer Call Centers.  Assembly Bill 2690 (De La Torre) would require a public utility to, upon request, inform any customer that telephones a call center of the location of the call center and whether the call center is operated by the utility or is a contracted vendor of the utility.  The bill would additionally require a customer call center that is outside the state, upon request and availability, to direct a telephone call to a call center located in the state, and require a customer call center that is outside the United States, upon request and availability, to direct a telephone call to a call center located within the United States.  Although scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Utilities & Commerce Committee this week, the Author withdrew his bill on the day of the hearing.  Given the policy committee deadline of April 23, 2010 for hearing fiscal bills, this measure is now dead.

 

The following bills were approved in their policy committees and will now all move to Assembly Appropriations Committee:

 

Modernizing Supplier Diversity Reporting.  Assembly Member Bradford, Chair of the Assembly Utilities & Commerce Committee, has proposed AB 2758, which would impose requirements related to Women, Minority, and Disabled Veterans Business Enterprise contracting requirements that currently apply to public utilities, to competitive cable television and broadband providers.  This bill is being sponsored by the Greenlining Institute. 

 

Trespassing on State Lands – Assembly Bill 2664 (Chesbro) would impose huge penalties for any unauthorized structures on state lands.  This proposal could potentially impact cable pole attachments on state lands. The bill either needs to exclude pole attachments and conduit occupancy, or needs to separate out those structures for a remedy that requires the owner to get the proper license.  Due to transfer of ownership of various cable operations and franchises, the companies, and likely the state lands commission, lack full records recording licenses that were obtained.  This could lead accusations that pole attachments are unauthorized.  CCTA is working with the Sponsor of the bill, the State Lands Commission, to address our issue.

 

Sex offenders: registration of Internet Accounts and Identifiers.  Under existing law, a person convicted of specific sex offenses is required to register with the local law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction in which they reside upon release of prison or jail.  Current registration requirements includes personal identifying information, including finger prints and photograph, residential address, employer and employment address and vehicle license plate number.  Assembly Bill 1850 (Galgiani) would expand this reporting requirement to include Internet accounts and identifiers within the list of information that a sex offender must disclose when registering.

In addition, this bill would require as a condition of probation or parole that a sex offender be prohibited from using the internet to access pornographic material, to access a social networking Internet web site, or to communicate with other individuals or groups for the purpose of promoting sexual relations with minors.  If a universal definition of “Social Networking Internet Website” is developed, it should replace the existing language in AB 1850 or any other legislative proposal with a social networking Internet website definition.

Social Networking Prohibition for Registered Sex Offenders.  Similar to AB 1850, Assembly Bill 2208 (Torres) would add e-mail addresses and Internet identifiers to the list of information that must be disclosed to law enforcement agencies by persons required to register as a sex offender.  AB 2208 would also prohibit specified registered sex offenders on probation or parole from using any Internet social networking Web site, unless authorized by the probation or parole supervisors.  The bill would authorize the Department of Justice to release the e-mail address to an Internet social networking Web sites to conduct searches and to purge the e-mail address of the sex offender from their Web site.

 

This bill also defines “Internet social networking Web site” as an Internet Web site that allows users, through the creation of Internet Web pages of profiles or by other means to provide information about themselves that is available to the public to other users; offers a mechanism for communication with other users where those users are likely to include a substantial number of minors; and has a primary purpose the facilitation of online social interactions.  If a universal definition of “Social Networking Internet Website” is developed, it should replace the existing definition in AB 2208 or any other legislative proposal with a social networking Internet website definition.

The following bill was approved in Assembly Appropriations and now moves to the Assembly Floor:

 

Service Contracts.  AB 2111 (Smyth) would amend the “Electronic and Appliance Repair Dealer Registration Law,” which regulates maintenance or repair service contracts for specified sets and appliances to include television, audio or video recorders or playback equipment.  However, as currently drafted, this proposal could be interpreted to apply to inside wiring covered by cable industry service contracts.  This week, we shared proposed amendments with the Sponsor of the bill, the Service Contract Industry Council, to clarify that this bill does not apply to the cable industry.  CCTA would like to amend the bill before it moves to the Senate. 

The following bills were approved in policy committee and will now move to Senate Appropriations Committee:

 

Distribution of Alphabetical Telephone Directories.  Senate Bill 920 (Yee) would require a telephone corporation or third party vendor to allow a telephone subscriber to opt out of receiving a telephone directory.  This bill would require that a telephone corporation or third party vendor place on the outside cover of the directory information for a subscriber to use to opt out of receiving a telephone directory.  CCTA is working with the Author to draft an amendment that would prohibit a telephone company from marketing to cable customers who contact them to opt out of receiving a telephone directory.

 

“Phantom” 911 Calls.  Senate Bill 1375 (Price), as currently in print, would not make any significant change in the current requirement for telephone corporations to provide every telephone connection access to 911 emergency service regardless of whether an account has been established or regular telephone service has been disconnected for non-payment (warm line).  In its current form, this is considered a “spot bill” or placeholder for a developing issue.

CCTA, telephone corporations, and 911 public safety officials are in negotiations to modify the current 911 warm line requirement to address the growing number of false 911 phone calls or “phantom 911 calls.”  On occasion, 911 operators will receive 911 calls that are triggered by damaged or aging lines, or for some other unknown reason.  Not knowing whether this is a true emergency, public safety officials will attempt to respond to the calls.  These false 911 calls are draining limited public safety resources.  While there is no final language, the concept would be to limit the requirement for maintaining a warm line, for a limited period of time, only when phone service is disconnected for lack of payment. 

 

Social Networking Prohibition for Registered Sex Offenders.  Senate Bill 1204 (Runner) would prohibit a registered sex offender, as a condition of parole, from opening an account on or otherwise participating in a social networking Internet website.  While it does not impose any requirements on Internet web sites or social networking sites in particular, it does attempt to define “Social Networking Internet Website.”  If a universal definition of “Social Networking Internet Website” is developed, it should replace the existing definition in SB 1204 or any other legislative proposal with a social networking Internet website definition.  After taking Committee amendments,

Trial De Novo.  As recently amended, Senate Bill 1113 (Wolk) would allow the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) to File a Notice of Action for a Trial De Novo in Superior Court for tax cases involving disputes of $100,000 or more.  Under existing law, FTB decisions may be appealed to the Board of Equalization (BOE) with the BOE’s ruling considered as final.  However, SB 1113 would authorize the FTB to appeal the BOE final decisions to the county superior court on a de novo basis.  This proposal is opposed by Cal-Tax, the California Chamber of Commerce, TechAmerica, and the California Manufacturers & Technology Association. 

Week of April 26-30, 2010:

Mandatory Single Sales Factor Apportionment.  This week, President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg introduced, as part of the Sixth Extraordinary Session dealing with tax reform, SBX6 18 which would require businesses to apportion their income pursuant to a single sales factor.  In an attempt to make this proposal revenue neutral, SBX6 18 would also provide certain industries with a manufacturers investment tax credit.  By making the proposal revenue neutral, the bill would only require a simple majority vote, as opposed to the two-thirds vote required for new tax increases.  SBX6 18 is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Revenue & Taxation Committee next week on Wednesday, April 28, 2010.