republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-136.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Telecommunications: universal service: speech disabilities."
description: "Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law requires the commission to oversee administration of the state's universal service programs, including the deaf and disabled programs. The existing deaf and disabled universal service program, among other things, requires the commission to design and implement a program to provide a telecommunications device capable of serving the needs of individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired, together with a single party line, at no charge additional to the basic exchange rate, to any subscriber who is certified as an individual who is deaf or hearing impaired."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 136"
citation: "California AB 136 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Telecommunications: universal service: speech disabilities."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Beall"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 28
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2011-01-12"
last_action: "2011-10-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f3732c11-d666-4ed0-b533-cf14c7074ba5"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB136"
source_hash: "0a1a9a5f223b99dd5617ff51763df765d10be6aebf1fcf7488c16e8643dd0c2c"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 136 (20112012) — Telecommunications: universal service: speech disabilities.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law requires the commission to oversee administration of the state's universal service programs, including the deaf and disabled programs. The existing deaf and disabled universal service program, among other things, requires the commission to design and implement a program to provide a telecommunications device capable of serving the needs of individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired, together with a single party line, at no charge additional to the basic exchange rate, to any subscriber who is certified as an individual who is deaf or hearing impaired.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **01/12/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB136&version=20110AB13699INT)
2. **03/14/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB136&version=20110AB13698AMD)
3. **04/26/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB136&version=20110AB13697AMD)
4. **06/14/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB136&version=20110AB13696AMD)
5. **06/30/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB136&version=20110AB13695AMD)
6. **08/30/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB136&version=20110AB13694AMD)
7. **09/02/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB136&version=20110AB13693AMD)
8. **10/02/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB136&version=20110AB13691CHP)
9. **AB136** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB136)
10. **09/20/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB136&version=20110AB13692ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 136 BEALL Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **77–2** (pass) · lower
- AB 136 BEALL Assembly Third Reading — **77–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB136 Beall By Walters — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on Appropriations Suspense file. — **8–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Beall — primary (person)
- Ammiano — coauthor (person)
- Bradford — coauthor (person)
- Buchanan — coauthor (person)
- Carter — coauthor (person)
- Chesbro — coauthor (person)
- Fletcher — coauthor (person)
- Fong — coauthor (person)
- Fuentes — coauthor (person)
- Furutani — coauthor (person)
- Garrick — coauthor (person)
- Huffman — coauthor (person)
- Ma — coauthor (person)
- Nestande — coauthor (person)
- Roger Hernández — coauthor (person)
- Swanson — coauthor (person)
- Valadao — coauthor (person)
- Walters — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2011-01-12** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-01-13** From printer. May be heard in committee February 12.
- **2011-03-14** Referred to Com. on U. & C. `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on U. & C. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-03-15** Re-referred to Com. on U. & C. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-05** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (April 4). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-26** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-04-27** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-04** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 27). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-05-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 1. Page 1639.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-05-31** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-08** Referred to Com. on E., U., & C. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E., U., & C. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-06-29** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 29). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-06-30** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-08-15** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-08-29** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (August 25). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-08-30** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-09-02** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-09-06** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-09-08** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2387.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-09-08** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2011-09-08** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 77. Noes 2. Page 3126.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2011-09-22** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12:30 p.m.
- **2011-10-02** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-10-02** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 404, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f3732c11-d666-4ed0-b533-cf14c7074ba5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).