(a) By July 1, 2020, the commission, in consultation with the Low-Income Oversight Board established pursuant to Section 382.1, shall submit to the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications a report on the pilot programs operated by water corporations pursuant to Section 755.5 that includes an assessment of the use of credit cards by low-income customers to avoid service disconnections, an assessment of the impact of the use of credit cards for customer bills on household debt burden, and an assessment of data, considered on an aggregated basis, regarding customer utilization and the cost-effectiveness of the bill payment options. Based on these assessments and an assessment of the customers’ interests served by providing these bill payment options, the report shall evaluate the usefulness of the individual customer transaction fee required by Section 755, and include a recommendation regarding individual customer transaction fees for credit card, debit card, and prepaid card payments accepted by water corporations.
(b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2024, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2024, deletes or extends that date.
(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 254, Sec. 2. (AB 1180) Effective January 1, 2017. Repealed as of January 1, 2024, by its own provisions.)