Bill Text: CA SB304 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Cable and video service.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-01 - Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB304 Detail]

Download: California-2009-SB304-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 304	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Huff

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2009

   An act to amend Section 5810 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to cable and video service.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 304, as introduced, Huff. Cable and video service.
   Existing law, the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act
of 2006, establishes a procedure for the issuance of state
franchises by the Public Utilities Commission for the provision of
video service, defined to include cable service and open-video
systems. Under that act, a person or corporation that seeks to
provide video service in this state is required to file an
application with the commission for a state franchise with specified
information, signed under penalty of perjury.
   This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to a
provision of that act.
   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 5810 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
   5810.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) Increasing competition for video and broadband services is a
matter of statewide concern for all of the following reasons:
   (A) Video and cable services provide numerous benefits to all
Californians including access to a variety of news, public
information, education, and entertainment programming.
   (B) Increased competition in the cable and video service sector
provides consumers with more choice, lowers prices, speeds the
deployment of new communication and broadband technologies, creates
jobs, and benefits the  entire  California economy.
   (C) To promote competition, the state should establish a
state-issued franchise authorization process that allows market
participants to use their networks and systems to provide video,
voice, and broadband services to all residents of the state.
   (D) Competition for video service should increase opportunities
for programming that appeals to California's diverse population and
many cultural communities.
   (2) Legislation to develop this new process should adhere to the
following principles:
   (A) Create a fair and level playing field for all market
competitors that does not disadvantage or advantage one service
provider or technology over another.
   (B) Promote the widespread access to the most technologically
advanced cable and video services to all California communities in a
nondiscriminatory manner regardless of socioeconomic status.
   (C) Protect local government revenues and control of public
rights-of-way.
   (D) Require market participants to comply with all applicable
consumer protection laws.
   (E) Complement efforts to increase investment in broadband
infrastructure and close the digital divide.
   (F) Continue access to and maintenance of the public, education,
and government (PEG) channels.
   (G) Maintain all existing authority of the California Public
Utilities Commission as established in state and federal statutes.
   (3) The public interest is best served when sufficient funds are
appropriated to the commission to provide adequate staff and
resources to appropriately and timely process applications of video
service providers and to ensure full compliance with the requirements
of this division. It is the intent of the Legislature that, although
video service providers are not public utilities or common carriers,
the commission shall collect  any   the 
fees authorized by this division in the same manner and under the
same terms as it collects fees from common carriers, electrical
corporations, gas corporations, telephone corporations, telegraph
corporations, water corporations, and every other public utility
providing service directly to customers or subscribers subject to its
jurisdiction such that it does not discriminate against video
service providers or their subscribers.
   (4) Providing an incumbent cable operator the option to secure a
state-issued franchise through the preemption of an existing cable
franchise between a cable operator and any political subdivision of
the state, including, but not limited to, a charter city, county, or
city and county, is an essential element of the new regulatory
framework established by this act as a matter of statewide concern to
best ensure equal protection and parity among providers and
technologies, as well as to achieve the goals stated by the
Legislature in enacting this act.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that a video service
provider shall pay as rent a franchise fee to the local entity in
whose jurisdiction service is being provided for the continued use of
streets, public facilities, and other rights-of-way of the local
entity in order to provide service. The Legislature recognizes that
local entities should be compensated for the use of the public
rights-of-way and that the franchise fee is intended to compensate
them in the form of rent or a toll, similar to that which the court
found to be appropriate in Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association
v. Board of Supervisors for the County of Santa Barbara (1989) 209
Cal. App. 3d 940.
   (c) It is the intent of the Legislature that collective bargaining
agreements be respected.
   (d) It is the intent of the Legislature that the definition of
gross revenues in this division shall result in local entities
maintaining their existing level of revenue from franchise fees.