Bid to Halt 310 Overlay Ditched So Bill Can Pass : Capitol: Assembly approves area code reform measure after provision aimed at Westside and South Bay is dropped in the face of intense lobbying.

Under attack by telephone industry lobbyists, Assemblyman Wally Knox and Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa abandoned efforts Thursday to halt an overlay in the 310 area code in order to pass a broader reform bill.

The Senate passed the revised legislation 35 to 0, sending it to the Assembly, where it was pending a floor vote late Thursday.

The compromise bill will still require a study before any new area code or overlay is implemented anywhere in the future, making phone companies prove their claims that the unpopular measures are needed to provide continued service to consumers.

However, the legislation will no longer direct the Public Utilities Commission to rescind an overlay--and proposed 11-digit dialing for all calls--on the Westside and in the South Bay, the very areas that pushed hardest for reform.

The measure is set to go into effect immediately and therefore still puts on hold an overlay or split proposed for the 818 area code, which the PUC is expected to consider at its meeting Thursday.

Knox and Villaraigosa, L.A. Democrats, said they fought hard to kill the 310 overlay but had to drop the effort when it became clear the bill would fail in the Senate with it.

Telephone industry lobbyists swayed several senators by arguing that reversing the decision would be unfair, since companies already have spent a lot of money to implement the overlay, Villaraigosa said.

“We had to respond to that, and focus on getting reforms that would avoid a future 310 situation,” he said.

Despite the setback, Villaraigosa and Knox held out hope that the PUC would take action on the Westside overlay anyway. If the bill had been defeated altogether, there would have been no chance of averting an overlay, they said.

“This was flat out the most intense lobbying effort I have ever seen, bar none,” a visibly worn Knox said. “They said they were going to pull out all the stops on this one, and they did.

“This is the first, it’s not the best, but it’s the only state [area code] reform legislation on the books,” Knox added. “It’s a road map for how to solve the area code mess.”

The bill, formerly AB 818 but now inserted into AB 406, is expected to reach Gov. Gray Davis next week. He hasn’t taken a stand on it.

The legislation also requires phone companies to preserve current area codes to the extent possible, ensure that retired numbers are reused rapidly and utilize numbers more efficiently by exhausting one prefix before assigning numbers from another. Finally, the bill mandates that the PUC establish a consumer education program regarding area code splits, overlays and number-conservation measures.

Telephone companies have implemented area code splits and overlays in New York City, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Atlanta and all of Maryland with little opposition.

But the inconvenience of dialing 11 digits even for local calls triggered a furor among customers in the 818 and 310 area codes, where phone companies pushed to introduce California’s first overlays.

Bowing to public pressure, the PUC has vacillated over splits and overlays in those two areas. The commission is set to consider plans to move forward with the proposed overlay for the 310 area code at its meeting Thursday.

Bustillo reported from Sacramento and Haynes from Los Angeles.