(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Office” means the Office of Emergency Services.

(2) “Telecommunications service” has the same meaning as defined in § 2892.1 of the Public Utilities Code, but does not include voice communication provided by a provider of satellite telephone service.

(b) (1) (A) On or before July 1, 2020, the office, by regulation, shall adopt appropriate thresholds for determining whether a telecommunications service outage constitutes a community isolation outage based on the risks to public health and safety resulting from the outage.

(B) On or before July 1, 2022, the office, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, by regulation, shall adopt requirements for the public outage maps maintained by telecommunications service providers pursuant to subdivision (f). Those requirements shall include the format of, requirements for updating, and the level of detail to be included in the public outage maps derived from community isolation outages, and shall be consistent with the requirements of Public Utilities Commission Decision 20-07-011 (July 16, 2020), Decision Adopting Wireless Provider Resiliency Strategies, and Decision 21-02-029 (February 11, 2021), Decision Adopting Wireline Provider Resiliency Strategies.

(2) In adopting regulations pursuant to paragraph (1), the office shall comply with the rulemaking process in Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2.

(3) Notwithstanding any other law, the office may issue emergency regulations in accordance with the process in Section 11346.1 if necessary to meet the deadlines in paragraph (1).

(c) (1) Upon the adoption of regulations pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), all providers of telecommunications service that provide access to 911 service shall notify the office whenever a community isolation outage occurs that limits their customers’ ability to make 911 calls or receive emergency notifications. The community isolation outage notification shall be provided within 60 minutes of discovery of the outage by the provider, and the office shall be responsible for notifying any applicable county office of emergency services, the sheriff of any county, and any public safety answering point affected by the outage. The community isolation outage notification to the office shall be by a medium specified by the office, and shall include the telecommunications service provider’s contact name and calling number, a description of the estimated area affected by the outage, and the approximate communities, including cities, counties, and regions, affected by the outage. The telecommunications service provider shall also notify the office by a medium specified by the office of both of the following:

(A) The estimated time to repair the outage.

(B) When achieved, the restoration of service.

(2) The office may provide the Public Utilities Commission with all of the information provided to it pursuant to paragraph (1).

(3) The office shall aggregate the data provided to it pursuant to paragraph (1) and shall post that aggregated data on its internet website. The aggregated data shall not name individual telecommunications service providers.

(4) The Public Utilities Commission shall treat any confidential information obtained from the office pursuant to this section consistent with its processes, including General Order 66-D, and statutory requirements for maintaining confidential information otherwise received from telecommunications service providers.

(d) The telecommunications service provider shall ensure that the calling number provided to the office with the community isolation outage notification is staffed by a contact person who shall be available to respond to inquiries about the outage at all times until the provider notifies the office that service has been restored.

(e) Except as provided in subdivision (c), the office shall keep community isolation outage notifications confidential and shall not disclose the contents of the notifications.

(f) Upon the adoption of regulations pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), each provider of telecommunications service that provides access to 911 service shall maintain on its internet website a public outage map showing that provider’s outages.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 425, Sec. 1. (SB 341) Effective January 1, 2022.)