Bill Text: CA SB341 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Telecommunications service: outages.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-3)
Status: (Passed) 2021-09-30 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 425, Statutes of 2021. [SB341 Detail]
Download: California-2021-SB341-Amended.html
Bill Title: Telecommunications service: outages.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-3)
Status: (Passed) 2021-09-30 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 425, Statutes of 2021. [SB341 Detail]
Download: California-2021-SB341-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Senate
April 28, 2021 |
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Amended
IN
Senate
March 23, 2021 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 341
| Introduced by Senator McGuire (Coauthors: Senators Dahle, Dodd, Glazer, and Nielsen) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Berman, Levine, and Wood) |
February 09, 2021 |
An act to amend Section 53122 of the Government Code, and to add Sections 776.2 and 914.8 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to telecommunications.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 341, as amended, McGuire.
Telecommunications service: outages.
(1) Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services, on or before July 1, 2020, by regulation, to adopt appropriate thresholds for determining whether a telecommunications service outage constitutes a community isolation outage based on the risks to public health and safety resulting from the outage. Existing law requires all providers of telecommunications service that provide access to 911 service to notify the office whenever a community isolation outage occurs that limits their customers’ ability to make 911 calls or receive emergency notifications. Existing law requires those community isolation outage notifications to include certain information, including a description of the estimated area and community affected by the outage.
This bill would require each provider of telecommunications service to maintain
on its internet website a public outage map showing that provider’s outages, and would require the office, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, on or before July 1, 2022, to adopt by regulation requirements for those maps, as specified. The bill would require the office to provide the commission with all of the information provided to it as part of a telecommunications service provider’s community isolation outage notification and to aggregate that data and post that aggregated data on its internet website. The bill would require the commission to annually report to the Legislature on the commission’s actions taken based on that information provided by the office.
(2) Under existing law, the commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law requires the commission to develop and implement performance reliability standards for backup power systems installed on the property
of residential and small commercial customers by a facilities-based provider providers of telephony services upon determining that the benefits of the standards exceed the costs.
This bill would require the commission, in consultation with the office, to develop and implement backup electricity rules to require providers of telecommunications service to maintain backup electricity for their telecommunications infrastructure sufficient to maintain telecommunications service for at least 72 hours, except as provided.
(3) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of
the commission is a crime.
Because certain provisions of this bill would be parts of the act and because a violation of a commission action implementing the bill’s requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 53122 of the Government Code is amended to read:53122.
(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:(1) “Office” means the Office of Emergency Services.
(2) “Telecommunications service” has the same meaning as defined in Section 2892.1 of the Public Utilities Code, but does not include voice communication provided by a provider of satellite telephone service.
(b) (1) (A) On or before July 1, 2020, the office, by regulation, shall adopt appropriate thresholds for determining whether a telecommunications service outage constitutes a community isolation
outage based on the risks to public health and safety resulting from the outage.
(B) On or before July 1, 2022, the office, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, by regulation, shall adopt requirements for the public outage maps maintained by telecommunications service providers pursuant to subdivision (f). Those requirements shall include the format of, requirements for updating, and the level of detail to be included in the public outage maps derived from community isolation outages.
(2) In adopting regulations pursuant to paragraph (1), the office shall comply with the rulemaking process in Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title
2.
(3) Notwithstanding any other law, the office may issue emergency regulations in accordance with the process in Section 11346.1 if necessary to meet the deadline in paragraph (1).
(c) (1) Upon the adoption of regulations pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), all providers of telecommunications service that provide access to 911 service shall notify the office whenever a community isolation outage occurs that limits their customers’ ability to make 911 calls or receive emergency notifications. The community isolation outage notification shall be provided within 60 minutes of discovery of the outage by the provider, and the office
shall be responsible for notifying any applicable county office of emergency services, the sheriff of any county, and any public safety answering point affected by the outage. The community isolation outage notification to the office shall be by a medium specified by the office, and shall include the telecommunications service provider’s contact name and calling number, a description of the estimated area affected by the outage, and the approximate communities, including cities, counties, and regions, affected by the outage. The telecommunications service provider shall also notify the office by a medium specified by the office of both of the following:
(A) The estimated time to repair the outage.
(B) When achieved, the restoration of service.
(2) The office shall provide the Public Utilities Commission with all of the information provided to it pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) The office shall aggregate the data provided to it pursuant to paragraph (1) and shall post that aggregated data on its internet website. The aggregated data shall not name individual telecommunications service providers.
(d) The telecommunications service provider shall ensure that the calling number provided to the office with the community isolation outage notification is staffed by a contact person who shall be available to respond to inquiries about the outage at all times until the provider notifies the office that service has been restored.
(e) Except as provided in subdivision (c), the office shall keep community isolation outage notifications confidential and shall not disclose the contents of the notifications.
(f) Upon the adoption of regulations pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), each provider of telecommunications service that provides access to 911 service shall maintain on its internet website a public outage map showing that provider’s outages.
SEC. 2.
Section 776.2 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:776.2.
(a) For purposes of this section, “telecommunications service” has the same meaning as defined in Section 2892.1, but does not include voice communication provided by a provider of satellite telephone service.(b) As part of a new or existing proceeding, the commission, in consultation with the Office of Emergency Services, shall develop and implement backup electricity rules to require providers of telecommunications service to maintain backup electricity for their telecommunications infrastructure sufficient to maintain telecommunications service for at least 72 hours, except as provided in subdivision (c).
(c) In developing and implementing backup electricity rules pursuant to subdivision (b), the commission shall consider best practices and the feasibility of the rules. In considering best practices and feasibility, the commission may allow, authorize, in appropriate circumstances, providers of telecommunications service to maintain backup electricity for their telecommunications infrastructure sufficient to maintain telecommunications service for less than 72 hours.
(d) This section does not require the commission to modify the communications resiliency requirements adopted in commission Decision 20-07-011 (July
16, 2020), Decision Adopting Wireless Provider Resiliency Strategies, or Decision 21-02-029 (February 11, 2021), Decision Adopting Wireline Provider Resiliency Strategies.
