California Assembly Bill AB2795 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 2795AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 17, 2016 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Lopez FEBRUARY 19, 2016  An act to amend Section 707 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.   An act to amend Section 2891.1 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to telephony.  LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2795, as amended, Lopez.  Electricity: community choice aggregators.  Telephony: unlisted numbers.   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law prohibits a telephone corporation selling or licensing lists of residential subscribers from including the telephone number of any subscriber assigned an unpublished or unlisted access number, as defined, without his or her written waiver of this protection. Existing law prohibits a provider of mobile telephony services, as defined, or any affiliate or agent of the provider, providing the name and dialing number of a subscriber for inclusion in a directory or directory database, from including the dialing number of any subscriber without first obtaining the express consent of that subscriber. Existing law prohibits a subscriber from being charged for making the choice to not have his or her name and mobile telephony dialing number listed in a publicly available directory assistance database.   This bill would prohibit a subscriber from being charged for making a choice to not have the above information listed in a directory. The bill would additionally prohibit a subscriber from being charged for making the choice to not have his or her name and residential telephone number listed in a directory or a publicly available directory assistance database.   Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to consider and adopt a code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures to govern the conduct of electrical corporations relative to the consideration, formation, and implementation of a community choice aggregation program. Existing law requires the commission to ensure that the code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures are implemented by no later than January 1, 2013.   This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that provision.  Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:  SECTION 1.   Section 2891.1 of the   Public Utilities Code   is amended to read:  2891.1. (a) Notwithstanding Section 2891, a telephone corporation selling or licensing lists of residential subscribers shall not include the telephone number of  any   a  subscriber assigned an unlisted or unpublished access number. A subscriber may waive all or part of the protection provided by this subdivision through written notice to the telephone corporation. (b) Notwithstanding Section 2891, a provider of mobile telephony services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of a provider, providing the name and dialing number of a subscriber for inclusion in any directory of any form, or selling the contents of any directory database, or any portion or segment  thereof,   of a directory database,  shall not include the dialing number of  any   a  subscriber without first obtaining the express consent of that subscriber. The express consent shall meet all of the following requirements: (1) It shall be one of the following: (A) A separate document that is signed and dated by the subscriber, and that is not attached to any other document. (B) An affirmative response made on a separate field on an Internet Web site where there is no default. The provider of mobile telephony services shall send a confirmation notice to the subscriber' s electronic mail address, or to a subscriber's postal mail address if the subscriber does not have an electronic mail account. (2) It shall be unambiguous, legible, and conspicuously disclose that, by opting in, the subscriber is consenting to have the subscriber's dialing number sold or licensed as part of a list of subscribers and the subscriber's dialing number may be included in a publicly available directory. (3) If, under the subscriber's calling plan, the subscriber may be billed for receiving unsolicited calls or text messaging from a telemarketer, the provider's form shall include an unambiguous and legible disclosure statement that, by consenting to have the subscriber's dialing number sold or licensed as part of a list of subscribers or included in a publicly available directory, the subscriber may incur additional charges for receiving unsolicited calls or text messages. (c)  Nothing in this section prohibits   This section does not prohibit  a subscriber of mobile telephony services from voluntarily entering into an agreement for the placement of his or her name and mobile telephony dialing number in any advertising program if the agreement satisfies the express consent requirements of this section. (d) A subscriber who provides express prior consent pursuant to subdivision (b) may revoke that consent at any time. A provider of mobile telephony services shall comply with the subscriber's request to opt out within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed 60 days. (e) A subscriber shall not be charged for making the choice to not have  their   his or her  name and mobile telephony dialing number  be   or his or her name and residential telephone number  listed in a  directory or  publicly available directory assistance database. (f) This section does not apply to the provision of telephone numbers to the following parties for the purposes indicated: (1) To a collection agency, to the extent disclosures made by the agency are supervised by the commission, exclusively for the collection of unpaid debts. (2) (A) To  any   a  law enforcement agency, fire protection agency, public health agency, public environmental health agency, city or county emergency services planning agency, or private for-profit agency operating under contract with, and at the direction of, one or more of these agencies, for the exclusive purpose of responding to a 911 call or communicating an imminent threat to life or property. (B) Any information or records provided to a private for-profit agency pursuant to this subdivision shall be held in confidence by that agency and by  any   an  individual employed by or associated with that agency. This information or these records shall not be open to examination for any purpose not directly connected with the administration of the services specified in subdivision (e) of Section 2872 or this paragraph. (3) To a lawful process issued under state or federal law. (4) To a telephone corporation providing service between service areas for the provision to the subscriber of telephone service between service areas, or to third parties for the limited purpose of providing billing services. (5) To a telephone corporation to effectuate a customer's request to transfer the customer's assigned telephone number from the customer's existing provider of telecommunications services to a new provider of telecommunications services. (6) To the commission pursuant to its jurisdiction and control over telephone and telegraph corporations. (g) Every deliberate violation of this section is grounds for a civil suit by the aggrieved subscriber against the organization or corporation and its employees responsible for the violation. (h) For purposes of this section, "unpublished or unlisted access number" means a telephone, telex, teletex, facsimile, computer modem, or any other code number that is assigned to a subscriber by a telephone or telegraph corporation for the receipt of communications initiated by other telephone or telegraph customers and that the subscriber has requested that the telephone or telegraph corporation keep in confidence. (i)  No telephone corporation, nor any official or employee thereof, shall   A   telephone corporation, or an official or employee of a telephone corporation, shall not  be subject to criminal or civil liability for the release of customer information as authorized by this section.  SECTION 1.   Section 707 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read: 707. (a) Not later than March 1, 2012, the commission shall institute a rulemaking proceeding for the purpose of considering and adopting a code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures, to govern the conduct of the electrical corporations relative to the consideration, formation, and implementation of community choice aggregation programs authorized in Section 366.2. The code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures, shall do all of the following: (1) Ensure that an electrical corporation does not market against a community choice aggregation program, except through an independent marketing division that is funded exclusively by the electrical corporation's shareholders and that is functionally and physically separate from the electrical corporation's ratepayer-funded divisions. (2) Limit the electrical corporation's independent marketing division's use of support services from the electrical corporation's ratepayer-funded divisions, and ensure that the electrical corporation's independent marketing division is allocated costs of any permissible support services from the electrical corporation's ratepayer-funded divisions on a fully allocated embedded cost basis, providing detailed public reports of such use. (3) Ensure that the electrical corporation's independent marketing division does not have access to competitively sensitive information. (4) (A) Incorporate rules that the commission finds to be necessary or convenient in order to facilitate the development of community choice aggregation programs, to foster fair competition, and to protect against cross-subsidization paid by ratepayers. (B) It is the intent of the Legislature that the rules include, in whole or in part, the rules approved by the commission in Decision 97-12-088 and Decision 08-06-016. (C) This paragraph does not limit the authority of the commission to adopt rules that it determines are necessary or convenient in addition to those adopted in Decision 97-12-088 and Decision 08-06-016 or to modify any rule adopted in those decisions. (5) Provide for any other matter that the commission determines to be necessary or advisable to protect a ratepayer's right to be free from forced speech or to implement that portion of the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 that establishes the federal standard that no electric utility may recover from any person other than the shareholders or other owners of the utility, any direct or indirect expenditure by the electric utility for promotional or political advertising (16 U.S.C. Sec. 2623(b)(5)). (b) No later than January 1, 2013, the commission shall ensure that the code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures are implemented. (c) This section does not limit the authority of the commission to require that any marketing against a community choice aggregation plan shall be conducted by an affiliate of the electrical corporation, or to require that marketing against a community choice aggregator not be conducted by a marketing division of the electrical corporation, subject to affiliate transaction rules to be developed by the commission.