CHAPTER 3. Telegraph or Telephone Corporations [7901. - 7912.]

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC 3.
in effect

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 7901. Section 7901.

Telegraph or telephone corporations may construct lines of telegraph or telephone lines along and upon any public road or highway, along or across any of the waters or lands within this State, and may erect poles, posts, piers, or abutments for supporting the insulators, wires, and other necessary fixtures of their lines, in such manner and at such points as not to incommode the public use of the road or highway or interrupt the navigation of the waters.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 7901.1. Section 7901.1.

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature, consistent with Section 7901, that municipalities shall have the right to exercise reasonable control as to the time, place, and manner in which roads, highways, and waterways are accessed. (b) The control, to be reasonable, shall, at a minimum, be applied to all entities in an equivalent manner. (c) Nothing in this section shall add to or subtract from any existing authority with respect to the imposition of fees by municipalities.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 7903. Section 7903.

Every agent, operator, or employee of any telegraph or telephone office, who in any way uses or appropriates any information derived by him from any private message passing through his hands, and addressed to any other person, or in any other manner acquired by him by reason of his trust as such agent, operator, or employee, or trades or speculates upon any such information so obtained, or in any manner turns, or attempts to turn, the information so obtained to his own account, profit, or advantage, is punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code, or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 7904. Section 7904.

Every agent, operator, or employee of any telegraph or telephone office, who wilfully refuses or neglects to send any message received at such office for transmission, or wilfully postpones the transmission of the message out of its order, or wilfully refuses or neglects to deliver any message received by telegraph or telephone, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require any message to be received, transmitted or delivered, unless the charges thereon have been paid or tendered, nor to require the sending, receiving, or delivery of any message counseling, aiding, abetting, or encouraging treason against the Government of the United States or of this State, or other resistance to the lawful authority, or any message calculated to further any fraudulent plan or purpose, or to instigate or encourage the perpetration of any unlawful act, or to facilitate the escape of any criminal or person accused of crime.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 7905. Section 7905.

The Public Utilities Commission shall issue regulations requiring every telephone corporation subject to its jurisdiction to maintain complete records of all instances in which its employees discover any device installed for the purpose of overhearing communications over the lines of such corporation and all instances in which such employees reasonably believe and report to the corporation their belief that such device is installed or has been installed but has since been removed.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 7906. Section 7906.

The Public Utilities Commission shall regularly make inquiry of every telephone corporation under its jurisdiction to determine whether or not such corporation is taking adequate steps to insure the privacy of communications over such corporation’s telephone communication system.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 7910. Section 7910.

(a) Telephone corporations, holders of a state franchise pursuant to Division 2.5 (commencing with Section 5800), and a video provider, as defined in Section 53088.1 of the Government Code, shall perform background checks of applicants for employment, according to usual business practices. (b) A background check equivalent to that performed by the contracting telephone corporation, a holder of a state franchise pursuant to Division 2.5 (commencing with Section 5800), and a video provider, as defined in Section 53088.1 of the Government Code, shall also be conducted on all of the following: (1) Persons hired by a contracting entity under a personal services contract. (2) Independent contractors and their employees. (3) Vendors and their employees. (c) Independent contractors and vendors shall certify that they have obtained the background checks required pursuant to subdivision (b), and shall make the background checks available to the contracting entity upon request. (d) Except as otherwise provided by contract, the telephone corporation, a holder of a state franchise pursuant to Division 2.5 (commencing with Section 5800), and a video provider, as defined in Section 53088.1 of the Government Code, shall not be responsible for administering the background checks and shall not assume the cost of the background checks of individuals who are not applicants for employment of the contracting entity. (e) (1) An individual shall not, on behalf of a telephone corporation, holder of a state franchise pursuant to Division 2.5 (commencing with Section 5800), or video provider, as defined in Section 53088.1 of the Government Code, enter upon the premises of any individual unless he or she has had the background check required by subdivisions (a) and (b). (2) Subdivision (a) applies to applicants for employment for positions that would allow the applicant to have direct contact with or access to the company’s network or central office and would require the applicant to perform activities that involve the installation, service, or repair of the company’s network or equipment. (3) Subdivision (b) applies to any person that has direct contact with or access to the company’s network or central office and performs activities that involve the installation, service, or repair of the company’s network or equipment. (f) This section does not apply to temporary workers performing emergency functions to restore the network of a telephone corporation to its normal state in the event of a natural disaster or an emergency that threatens or results in the loss of service. (g) The provisions of this section apply only to applicants for employment who apply for employment on and after January 1, 2009, and to contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2009.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 7912. Section 7912.

A public utility employing more than 750 total employees shall annually report to the commission all of the following: (a) The number of customers served in California by the public utility. (b) The percentage of the public utility’s total domestic customer base that resides in California. (c) The number of California residents employed by the public utility, calculated on a full-time or full-time equivalent basis. (d) The percentage of the public utility’s total domestic workforce, calculated on a full-time or full-time equivalent basis, that resides in California. (e) The capital investment in the public utility’s tangible and intangible plant which ordinarily have a service life of more than one year, including plant used by the company or others in providing public utility services, in California during the yearly reporting period. (f) The number of California residents employed by independent contractors and consultants hired by the public utility, calculated on a full-time or full-time equivalent basis, when the public utility has obtained this information upon requesting it from the independent contractor or consultant, and the public utility is not contractually prohibited from disclosing the information to the public. This subdivision is inapplicable to contractors and consultants that are a public utility subject to the reporting requirements of this section. This paragraph applies only to those employees of an independent contractor or consultant that are personally providing services to the public utility, and does not apply to employees of an independent contractor or consultant not personally performing services for the public utility.
Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026