republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/sb-394.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Telecommunications: Moore Universal Telephone Service Act."
description: "Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. The Moore Universal Telephone Service Act established the lifeline telephone service program in order to provide low-income households with access to affordable basic residential telephone service. Existing law requires that a lifeline telephone service subscriber be provided with one lifeline subscription at the subscriber's principal place of residence, and provides that no other member of that subscriber's family or household, as defined, who maintains residence at that place is eligible for lifeline telephone service."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "SB 394"
citation: "California SB 394 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Telecommunications: Moore Universal Telephone Service Act."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hueso"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2021-02-11"
last_action: "2021-10-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/12b75d03-2739-4c40-be8e-6ce71c27597d"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB394"
source_hash: "cb089ce57abf24426f9ef0aa969d3b5ff628e86724dfb3f4d8dc8f89f1b5607c"
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 SB 394 (20212022) — Telecommunications: Moore Universal Telephone Service Act.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. The Moore Universal Telephone Service Act established the lifeline telephone service program in order to provide low-income households with access to affordable basic residential telephone service. Existing law requires that a lifeline telephone service subscriber be provided with one lifeline subscription at the subscriber's principal place of residence, and provides that no other member of that subscriber's family or household, as defined, who maintains residence at that place is eligible for lifeline telephone service.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/11/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB394&version=20210SB39499INT)
2. **10/09/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB394&version=20210SB39497CHP)
3. **SB394** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB394)
4. **09/03/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB394&version=20210SB39498ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **12–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 394 Hueso Senate Third Reading By Santiago — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **14–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Hueso — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-11** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2021-02-12** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 14.
- **2021-02-22** Art. IV. Sec. 8(a) of the Constitution dispensed with.
- **2021-02-22** (Ayes 32. Noes 4.)
- **2021-02-22** Joint Rule 55 suspended. (Ayes 32. Noes 4. Page 272.)
- **2021-02-25** Referred to Com. on E., U. & C. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-02** Set for hearing March 15.
- **2021-03-16** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 14. Noes 0. Page 499.) (March 15). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-17** Set for hearing March 22.
- **2021-03-22** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2021-03-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-05** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 658.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-04-05** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-13** Referred to Com. on C. & C. `referral-committee`
- **2021-07-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (July 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (August 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-01** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 2606.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-01** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2021-09-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.
- **2021-10-09** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-10-09** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 765, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/12b75d03-2739-4c40-be8e-6ce71c27597d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).