The California Legislature passed two telecom bills and advanced ...
The California Legislature passed two telecom bills and advanced a third. It sent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a bill to authorize creation of community service districts to build and run broadband telecom facilities and provide retail broadband service until a…
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private company seeks to take over. Under SB-1191, an acquiring business would have to offer broadband service at price and quality levels comparable to what the special district offered. The bill would require a district to make reasonable efforts to find a private provider before delivering its own service. The state has 320 community service districts, formed to deliver particular services and facilities that business hasn’t. The Legislature also passed AB-1976 to increase penalties for repeat violators of a ban on knowingly calling 911 for purposes other than reporting an emergency. Current law caps the fine for multiple offenses at $50 and allows for lesser penalties. This bill would require a $50 fine for second offenses, $100 for a third offense and $250 for any beyond that. The Senate Utilities and Commerce Committee advanced SB-780 to put off four years the sunset for the state’s two universal service high-cost funds. The funds now are to sunset at year-end. One fund is for small rural telephone providers, the other is for high-cost areas of large non- rural local exchange providers.