Sacramento – SB 1375, a “warm line” 911 emergency service bill, authored by Senator Curren D. Price Jr., (D-Los Angeles), passed out of the Assembly Policy Committee with a 14-0 vote on Wednesday, June 30th.
Senate Bill 1375 seeks to change current law, which went into effect January 1, 1995, requiring land line telephone corporations to provide every telephone connection with access to 911 emergency services regardless whether an account has been established or regular service has been disconnected for non payment.
“The 15 year old “warm line” system was never designed to provide permanent access – and we cannot continue to pretend that it does,” said Senator Price. “Providing this service under current law is costly and burdensome to the industry, local governments as well as the state.”
“This legislation will modify the 911 warm line requirements to account for changes in the telecommunications marketplace yet still preserve the public safety purpose of warm lines.”
Senator Price said that the PUC examined the issue in 2009 and determined that there is a problem with phantom calls and a wide spectrum of how those calls are handled.
“I support making sure people have access to 911 – but my goal here is to give them a full safety net which is access to other services, friends and family,” he said. “California has the most successful Lifeline program in the country and consumers can get telephone service for less than $4.00 a month. That’s the public safety net I support and I’m advocating with this legislation.”
