Bill Text: CA SB1069 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended


Bill Title: Telecommunications: emergencies and natural disasters: critical communications infrastructure.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-06-18 - June 18 hearing: Held in committee and under submission. [SB1069 Detail]

Download: California-2019-SB1069-Amended.html

Amended  IN  Senate  June 02, 2020

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 1069


Introduced by Senator Jackson

February 18, 2020


An act to amend Section 52122 of, and to add Section 52123 to, the Government Code, and to add Section 2892.2 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to telecommunications.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1069, as amended, Jackson. Telecommunications: emergencies and natural disasters: critical communications infrastructure.
Existing law requires a provider of telecommunications services, as defined, that provides access to 911 service to notify the Office of Emergency Services, as provided, whenever a community isolation outage limiting the provider’s customers’ ability to make 911 calls or receive emergency notifications occurs within 60 minutes of discovering the outage. Existing law makes the office 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. Existing law requires the telecommunications service provider to notify the office of the estimated time to repair the outage and when service is restored.
This bill would additionally require a telecommunication service provider to notify the office of critical telecommunications infrastructure out of service or experiencing functionality failures that would prevent the transmission of an emergency notification or 911 call and the estimated range of any mobile telephony service base transceiver station towers identified as damaged or experiencing functionality failures. The bill would require each provider of telecommunications service, to the extent feasible, to provide real-time information to a county office of emergency services upon identifying outages or functionality failures that could impede the transmission of an emergency alert or notification. The bill would require a telecommunication service provider, on an annual basis, to provide the office with the name or names and contact information for an official representative of the provider, who has the knowledge and technical expertise necessary to participate in state and local emergency operations response for a declared disaster or emergency. The bill would require the office to ensure that the names and contact information reported by a telecommunications service provider are transmitted to each county office of emergency services.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law requires the commission, in consultation with the Office of Emergency Services, to identify the need for telecommunications service systems not on customers’ premises to have backup electricity to enable the telecommunications networks to function, and to enable customers to contact a public safety answering point operator during an electrical outage, to determine performance criteria for backup systems, and to determine whether specified best practices for backup systems have been implemented by telecommunications service providers operating in California.

This bill would require each provider of telecommunications service to (1) notify local emergency management officials about the location and status of the provider’s critical communications infrastructure, as defined, (2) provide to the local incident command upon the declaration of an emergency or natural disaster the name and contact information for, and make available upon request, an official representative of the provider able to assist local emergency operations, (3) report to local emergency management authorities and the commission the transmission status of emergency alerts, notifications, and messages, (4) notify local and state emergency management officials in real time of impacted critical communications infrastructure within their jurisdictions that has been damaged or otherwise rendered inoperable, and, (5) upon the conclusion of an emergency or natural disaster, timely report to the commission on the impacts to the provider’s network during the emergency or natural disaster, as specified.

This bill would require the commission to (1) evaluate the extent to which telecommunications network failures impacted the transmission of emergency alerts and notifications, (2) direct each provider of telecommunications service to submit an inventory of critical telecommunications infrastructure in the provider’s network on an annual basis, and (3) provide that inventory to the Office of Emergency Services for inclusion in statewide emergency planning activities. The bill would require the commission and the office to keep the provided inventory confidential.
Under existing law, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission implementing the bill’s requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
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.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) California is experiencing increased threats from deadly wildfires and other disasters, including earthquakes, floods, landslides, and planned electrical grid shutoffs.
(b) Unacceptable impacts on communications infrastructure have occurred during these disasters, resulting in the loss of the public’s ability to communicate and receive essential emergency information.
(c) A resilient and dependable communications network is critical to the public’s safety in times of disaster, both for the relay of 911 calls and the delivery of internet-based deenergization maps, evacuation maps, and disaster-related resources.
(d) To significantly enhance public safety, the state must set clear requirements and expectations for communications service providers before, during, and after disasters.
(e) State and local emergency responders must receive basic information about communications infrastructure and receive assistance from communications services providers to prepare effectively for disasters, optimize distribution of emergency alerts, and respond effectively to disasters.

SEC. 2.

 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) 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.
(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, and issue, on or before January 1, 2020, the notice required by Section 11346.5.
(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) Upon the adoption of regulations pursuant to 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 and 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 services provider shall also notify the office by a medium specified by the office of both of, as appropriate, all of the following:
(1) The estimated time to repair the outage.
(2) When achieved, the restoration of service.
(3) Identification of critical telecommunications infrastructure out of service or experiencing functionality failures that would prevent the transmission of an emergency notification or 911 call.
(4) The estimated range of any mobile telephony service base transceiver station towers identified as damaged or experiencing functionality failures.
(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) On or before January 1, 2022, the office shall adopt an update to the regulations established pursuant to subdivision (b) to include the information described in paragraphs (3) and (4) of subdivision (c) in reports provided by telecommunications service providers to the office.
(g) Each provider of telecommunications service shall, to the extent feasible, provide real-time information to a county office of emergency services upon identifying outages or functionality failures that could impede the transmission of an emergency alert or notification.

SEC. 3.

 Section 53123 is added to the Government Code, to read:

53123.
 (a) On an annual basis, each provider of telecommunications service as defined in Section 53122 shall provide the Office of Emergency Services with the name or names and contact information for an official representative of the provider, who shall have the knowledge and technical expertise necessary to participate in state and local emergency operations response for a disaster or emergency declared pursuant to Section 8558.
(b) On an annual basis, the Office of Emergency Services shall ensure that the names and contact information reported by telecommunications service providers pursuant to subdivision (a) are transmitted to each county office of emergency services.

SEC. 2.SEC. 4.

 Section 2892.2 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

2892.2.
 (a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Critical communications infrastructure” shall be defined by the commission, and shall include all of the following: be consistent with the critical infrastructure classification for purposes of the California Emergency Services Act (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8550) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code).

(A)The physical assets and equipment necessary to provide communications service to customers.

(B)The physical assets and equipment necessary to provide backhaul services to the communications network.

(C)Sources of electricity, including backup storage and generation, necessary for the functioning of the infrastructure described in subparagraphs (A) and (B).

(2) “Emergency or natural disaster” means an emergency or a natural disaster declared by the Governor to be an emergency pursuant to Section 8558 of the Government Code.
(3) “Telecommunications service” means voice communication provided by a telephone corporation as defined in Section 234, voice communication provided by a provider of mobile telephony service, as defined in Section 224.4, and voice communication provided by a commercially available facilities-based provider of voice communication services using Voice over Internet Protocol or any successor protocol. Protocol, as defined in Section 239.

(b)Each provider of telecommunications service shall do all of the following:

(1)Notify each local emergency management official about the location and status of the provider’s critical communications infrastructure within the official’s jurisdiction. The notice shall include all of the following:

(A)An inventory of the location and type of critical communications infrastructure. The provider shall update the inventory annually.

(B)A real-time inventory of critical communications infrastructure that is, or may be, affected by an ongoing natural disaster or emergency declared by the local emergency management authority, or a deenergization event implemented by an electrical corporation or local publicly owned electric utility.

(C)The geographic boundaries of the provider’s service territory reliant on the critical communications infrastructure that is, or may be, affected by an ongoing natural disaster or emergency declared by the local emergency management authority, or a deenergization event implemented by an electrical corporation or local publicly owned electric utility, including the subregional distribution of communications from major cell towers.

(2)Immediately upon the declaration of an emergency or natural disaster, provide to the local incident command the name and contact information for, and make available upon request, an official representative of the provider, who shall have the credentials and training necessary to participate at a local emergency operations center.

(3)Immediately following the transmission of an emergency alert, notification, or other message sent from the local emergency management authority relevant to an ongoing incident, the telecommunications provider shall report to the local emergency management authority the transmission status of the emergency alert, notification, or message, including all of the following:

(A)The number of individuals who were sent the emergency alert, notification, or message.

(B)The number of individuals who received the emergency alert, notification, or message.

(C)The regional distribution of the emergency alert, notification, or message, including geographic information about the regions where the emergency alert, notification, or message was not received due to communications network failure.

(D)The number of emergency alerts, messages, and notifications per minute that were sent, and the number of emergency alerts, messages, and notifications per minute that were delivered, as a result of the local emergency management authority’s transmission of the emergency alert, notification, or other message.

(4)Report to the commission on the efficacy of the Wireless Emergency Alert System, and local emergency alert system, and the alerts, messages, and notifications sent from, and received by, the provider’s users using its network during an emergency or natural disaster. The report shall include comprehensive reporting on alert, messaging, and notification performance, including throughput and error rates, and the impact on alert, messaging, and notification performance resulting from damage to critical communications infrastructure caused by an emergency or natural disaster or a deenergization event.

(5)Notify a local or state emergency management official in real time of impacted critical communications infrastructure within the official’s jurisdictions that has been damaged or otherwise rendered inoperable. The notification shall, to the extent possible, provide actionable information on how the official can facilitate the restoration of service.

(6)(A)Upon the conclusion of an emergency or natural disaster, timely report to the commission on the impacts to its network during the emergency or natural disaster.

(B)The report shall include all of the following:

(i)A description of the infrastructure that was damaged or otherwise impacted by the emergency or natural disaster.

(ii)The number of the provider’s users whose service was affected or lost during the emergency or natural disaster.

(iii)An estimate of the reduction to the provider’s network traffic during the emergency or natural disaster.

(b) As part of a new or existing proceeding, the commission shall do all of the following:
(1) Evaluate the extent to which telecommunications network failures impacted the transmission of emergency alerts and notifications.
(2) Direct each provider of telecommunications service to submit an inventory of critical telecommunications infrastructure in the provider’s network on an annual basis.
(3) Provide the inventory described in paragraph (2) to the Office of Emergency Services for inclusion in statewide emergency planning activities.
(c) In evaluating the impact of network failures on the transmission of emergency alerts and notifications, the commission may request information from providers of telecommunications services.
(d) Except as provided in paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), information identifying the precise location and status of critical telecommunications infrastructure shall be kept confidential by of the commission and Office of Emergency Services.

SEC. 5.

 The Legislature finds and declares that Section 4 of this act, which adds Section 2892.2 of the Public Utilities Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:
The interests in maintaining the confidentiality of the precise location and status of critical telecommunication infrastructure, for public safety reasons, outweighs any interest in the public disclosure of that information.

SEC. 3.SEC. 6.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.
feedback