The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The Moore Universal Telephone Service Act, enacted in 1987, was intended to offer high quality basic telephone service at affordable rates to the greatest number of California residents, and has become an important means of achieving universal service by making residential service affordable to low-income citizens through the creation of a lifeline class of service.
(b) Factors such as competition and technological innovation are resulting in the convergence of a variety of telecommunications technologies offering an expanded range of telecommunications services to users that incorporate voice, video, and data. These technologies have differing regulatory regimes and jurisdictions.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission initiate a proceeding investigating the feasibility of redefining universal telephone service by incorporating two-way voice, video, and data service as components of basic service. It is the Legislature’s further intent that, to the extent that the incorporation is feasible, that it promote equity of access to high-speed communications networks, the Internet, and other services to the extent that those services provide social benefits that include all of the following:
(1) Improving the quality of life among the residents of California.
(2) Expanding access to public and private resources for education, training, and commerce.
(3) Increasing access to public resources enhancing public health and safety.
(4) Assisting in bridging the “digital divide” through expanded access to new technologies by low-income, disabled, or otherwise disadvantaged Californians.
(5) Shifting traffic patterns by enabling telecommuting, thereby helping to improve air quality in all areas of the state and mitigating the need for highway expansion.
(d) For purposes of this section, the term “feasibility” means consistency with all of the following:
(1) Technological and competitive neutrality.
(2) Equitable distribution of the funding burden for redefined universal service as described in subdivision (c), among all affected consumers and industries, thereby ensuring that regulated utilities’ ratepayers do not bear a disproportionate share of funding responsibility.
(3) Benefits that justify the costs.
(Added by Stats. 2000, Ch. 943, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2001.)