Senate Looks to Slow Down Pace of Area Code Overlays

Legislation that would place stricter controls on area code overlays goes before the state Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday, but action is likely to be delayed because of its $529,610 price tag, officials said.

The Consumer Area Code Relief Act (AB 818) is one of hundreds of bills expected to come before the 13-member committee when it convenes in the Capitol.

Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) introduced the legislation that would force the state to adopt number conservation measures to slow the pace of telephone area code changes.

At Monday’s meeting, the committee is expected to receive a report from state regulators putting the bill’s cost to taxpayers at $529,610 in the first year and $475,220 in both the second and third years, officials said.

California Public Utilities Commission fiscal analysts said the money would be used to pay for salaries, benefits, equipment, computer software, training and other expenses for five telecommunications analysts, a program technician and one attorney to study phone companies’ records to prove claims of number shortages and the need for new area codes, officials said.

Still, Knox defended the bill’s cost.

“The bill would require the PUC to become more aggressive than it has been in looking at telecommunications companies’ numbering practices, and there may be some financial consequences to that,” he said.

Because the bill’s cost is more than the $150,000 threshold set by the Appropriations Committee, officials said it will be placed in a holding file until Aug. 30.

By then, committee members will know how much they can spend to fund bills without exceeding the state’s operating budget, officials said. Committee members fund bills they consider priorities, effectively passing them and moving them on to the Senate floor, officials said.

Legislation that is not funded when the session ends Sept. 10 can be reclassified by the author as a two-year bill, giving the measure one more shot at passage in the next session, officials said.

In the case of the Knox bill, supporters are pressing to get the bill passed and signed by Gov. Gray Davis before Sept. 16, when the PUC is scheduled to vote on the proposed 818 area code overlay.

Knox’s bill faces stiff opposition from a coalition of telecommunications companies--including Pacific Bell, GTE, MCI and Sprint--that is pushing for the area code changes, saying that overlays or splits are necessary to accommodate a surge in demand for phone lines.

Pac Bell and GTE, the two largest phone companies in Los Angeles, are pressing specifically for overlays. They are the most efficient way to deal with the number crunch, company executives say, because an overlay would add 7.9 million numbers to the same calling area. An area code can be overlaid three or four times, ensuring that the 818 area code would remain in use indefinitely.

Phone companies have been aggressive in letting state regulators know what they want.

Overlays are planned next year for San Jose, north Orange County, east San Diego County, the East Bay Area, the San Mateo/Santa Clara region, San Francisco and San Bernardino County, officials said.