COM/GFB/sid DRAFT H-8

6/27/2002

Agenda ID #597

Decision ___________

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Order Instituting Rulemaking on the Commission's Own Motion to Establish an Appropriate Error Rate for Connections Made by an Automatic Dialing Device Pursuant to Section 2875.5 of the Public Utilities Code.

Rulemaking 02-02-020 (Filed February 21, 2002)

INTERIM OPINION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

INTERIM OPINION 2

1. Summary 2

2. Background 2

3. Procedural History 5

4. Preliminary Considerations 6

4.1 Necessity of Hearing 6

4.2 Applicability of Rules 7

4.3 Percentage of `Live Calls' 9

4.4 Monthly Measuring Rate 9

4.5 Definition of `error' 9

5. Establishing the Error Rate 12

5.1 The Case for a Zero Error Rate 12

5.2 The C ase Against a Zero Error Rate 14

5.3 Setting an Error Rate 18

6. Record-Keeping Requirements 21

7. Comments on Proposed Decision 24

Findings of Fact 30

Conclusions of Law 32

INTERIM ORDER 33

ATTACHMENT

American Teleservices Association 1

AT&T Communications 3

California Attorney General 7

California Newspaper Publishers Association 9

Consumer Coalition 10

Department of Consumer Affairs 15

Pacific Bell Telephone Company 17

Private Citizen, Inc. 19

Sprint Communications Company L.P. 21

Sytel Limited 22

Verizon California Inc. 24

WorldCom, Inc. 25

INTERIM OPINION

1. Summary

This interim decision defines and establishes an "acceptable error rate" for calls generated by predictive dialing telephone equipment. Effective July 1, 2002, the rate will be 3% of all predictive dialer calls answered by a live person. An "error" is defined as a call answered by a live person in which (1) the predictive dialer disconnects the call after the called party has answered, or (2) the called party does not receive a response from the calling agent or telemarketer within two seconds of the called party's completed greeting, or, alternatively, no agent or telemarketer is available within four seconds of the called party's telephone going off-hook. The four-second off-hook standard is a transitional one that will be phased out in six months. The "acceptable error rate" will be reduced to 1% on January 1, 2003, although this standard and the effective date are subject to further review in an industry workshop that will be conducted by our Telecommunications Division within 90 days. We also establish preliminary record-keeping requirements and direct that the workshop consider further record-keeping requirements and means of informing the public about do-not-call registers and other ways of protecting themselves from unwanted telephone calls.