Communications: lifeline telephone service program.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on how the changes will be implemented or enforced, leaving some uncertainty.

Communications: Lifeline Telephone Service Program

AB-1303 restricts the sharing of personal information in the Lifeline Telephone Service program and prohibits requiring social security numbers from applicants or subscribers.

What This Bill Does

• Prohibits the Public Utilities Commission, its staff, third-party administrators, service providers, and their contractors from sharing personal information with government agencies without a court-ordered subpoena or judicial warrant.
• Allows these entities to request but not require social security numbers for applying to or participating in the Lifeline program.
• Defines 'lawful process' as an action taken pursuant to a court-ordered subpoena or judicial warrant, affecting how personal information can be shared with law enforcement.
• Makes it illegal to violate new privacy rules set by the Public Utilities Commission.

Who It Names or Affects

• Low-income households applying for or using the Lifeline Telephone Service program
• Public Utilities Commission and its staff
• Third-party administrators of the Lifeline program
• Service providers participating in the Lifeline program

Terms To Know

Lawful process

An action taken pursuant to a court-ordered subpoena or judicial warrant.

Immigration authority

An organization responsible for immigration matters, which cannot receive Lifeline program participant data without a legal order.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify the effective date.
• It is unclear how these changes will be implemented and enforced by the Public Utilities Commission.
• Local agencies are exempt from state reimbursement for costs related to this act, but details on other potential impacts or costs are not provided.

Official Summary Text

AB 1303, Valencia.
Communications: lifeline telephone service program.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. The Moore Universal Telephone Service Act establishes the Universal Lifeline Telephone Service program in order to provide low-income households with access to affordable basic residential telephone service. Existing law requires the commission to accept applications for lifeline telephone service according to procedures specified by the commission.
This bill would prohibit the commission, its staff, the lifeline program’s third-party administrator, and lifeline service providers, and their contractors, agents, successors, or assignees, from sharing, disclosing, or otherwise making accessible any information provided by an applicant or subscriber to the lifeline program, or a subprogram or pilot program of the
lifeline program, to any agency of a local government, a state government, or the federal government, or to an immigration authority, as defined, without a court-ordered subpoena or valid judicial warrant, except as specified. The bill would authorize the commission, its staff, the lifeline program’s third-party administrator, and lifeline service providers, and the providers’ agents, successors, or assignees, to request, but would prohibit those entities from requiring, applicants and subscribers to provide social security numbers to apply to, or participate in, the lifeline program.
Existing law prohibits a telephone or telegraph corporation from making certain categories of personal information available to any other person or corporation without first obtaining the residential subscriber’s consent in writing. Existing law exempts information provided to a law enforcement agency in response to lawful process from that prohibition.
This bill would define “lawful process,” for that purpose, to mean an action taken pursuant to a court-ordered subpoena or judicial warrant.
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 part of the act and therefore a violation of the bill’s requirements, or a violation of a commission action implementing its 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.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF