1 2 FINALIZED MINUTES 1 3 1 Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program 2 Equipment Program Advisory Committee (EPAC) 3 September 11, 2015 4 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM 5 Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program, Main Office 6 1333 Broadway St., Suite 500, Oakland, CA 94612 7 8 The Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program’s (DDTP or 9Program) Equipment Program Advisory Committee (EPAC) held its 10monthly business meeting at the DDTP Main Office in Oakland, California. 11 12EPAC Committee Members Present: 13Keith Bonchek, Deaf Community Seat 14Mussie Gebre, Deaf-Blind Community Seat 15Jacqueline Jackson, Blind/Low-Vision Community Seat 16Tom Mentkowski, Hard of Hearing Community Seat 17Brian Pease, Mobility Impaired Community Seat 18Kenneth Rothschild, Deaf Community Seat 19Sylvia Stadmire, Senior Citizen Community Seat 20 21EPAC Non-Voting Liaisons Present: 22Dave Kehn, CCAF, Customer Contact Operations Manager 23 24EPAC Non-Voting Liaisons Absent: 25Nazmeen Rahman, CPUC, Communications Division 26 27CPUC Staff Present: 28Jonathan Lakritz, Communications Division 29Hannah Steiner, Communications Division 30Charlotte Taylor, Communications Division 31 32CCAF Staff Present: 33Mary Atkins, Marketing Department Manager 34Dan Carbone, Customer Contact Liaison 35Emily Claffy, Committee Assistant 36Patsy Emerson, Committee Coordinator 37John Koste, Telecommunications Equipment Specialist 38Jennifer Minore, Field Operations Department Manager – Nor. Cal 4 1EPAC September 11, 2015 2 2 3 1Alma Ortiz, Itinerant Field Operations Support (IFOS) III 2David Weiss, California Relay Service (CRS) Department Manager 3 4Others Present: 5Natalie Billingsley, Office of Ratepayer Advocates 6Nadine Branch, Attendant to Jacqueline Jackson 7Jonathan Gray, Clarity 8Robert Schwartz, Office of Ratepayer Advocates 9Jonathan Villet, OneWorld Communications 10 11 EPAC Chair, Sylvia Stadmire, called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. 12 13 I. Administrative Business 14 A. Introductions 15 The Committee Members, California Communications Access 16Foundation (CCAF) and California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or 17Commission) staff and the audience introduced themselves. 18 19Kenneth Rothschild asked to observe a moment of silence in remembrance 20of the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. 21 22 B. Agenda Modification and Approval 23 The agenda was approved without modification. 24 25 1. Review of emergency evacuation procedures 26 Patsy Emerson reviewed the emergency evacuation procedures with 27the Committee. 28 29 C. Review of Minutes from Previous Meetings 30 The minutes from EPAC’s June 12, 2015 meeting and the Joint 31Committees’ meeting minutes from May 8, 2015 were approved with 32modification to include speaker’s last names in each new section of the 33minutes. 34 35 II. CPUC Update 36 Jonathan Lakritz of the CPUC stated that EPAC will meet next on 37October 9, 2015 and will meet jointly with the Telecommunications Access 38for the Deaf and Disabled Administrative Committee (TADDAC) on 39November 13, 2015. 1EPAC September 11, 2015 3 2 3 1 He noted that telecommunications services continue to change in terms 2of both providers and technologies, adding that the Commission would 3appreciate the Committee’s support in notifying them of consumer 4experiences in relation to these changes. He said that some issues have 5arisen as the CRS area has transitioned from a two-vendor environment to 6a one-vendor environment and encouraged the Committee’s input to help 7improve this statutorily mandated service. 8 Regarding new equipment and accessory pilots, Jonathan stated that 9the iPhone pilot has been progressing well and that the Odin VI pilot will 10begin soon. He noted that equipment vendors are constantly changing out 11their equipment offerings and thanked the Committee for their input on 12identifying and testing new equipment. He stated that the Program will have 13an aggressive equipment testing schedule for the next 12 months which 14CCAF will provide more details on later. 15 In terms of Program contracts, Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and 16Invitations for Bids (IFBs), Jonathan stated that there are many contract 17exercises that the Commission will be going through for the Program. He 18stated that they will be putting out IFBs, part of the competitive 19procurement process, for American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters in 20both northern and southern California as well as the foreign language 21translator contract. Both are expected to go out sometime during the 22September or October timeframe. He added that all competitive bid 23opportunities are posted on BidSync, as required by the Department of 24General Services (DGS). They also try to post these opportunities on the 25DDTP and CPUC websites. Jonathan said that in addition to the interpreter 26and foreign language translator contracts, the Commission is working on an 27RFP for the DDTP primary program and contract administrator contract, 28currently held by CCAF. He explained that this contract is the largest 29contract in the Program and is responsible for facilitating the day-to-day 30operations for the service centers and field staff, provides support for 31Committee meetings, and supports the Commission in overall management 32of the program. The RFP is expected to go out this fall. Another RFP will be 33developed for the marketing services provider for the Program as well. 34These contracts are set to expire in about a year. The CRS contract has 35gone from a two vendor environment with AT&T and Hamilton to a single 36vendor environment with just Hamilton providing service. Jonathan stated 37that the transition has gone smoothly overall and that there have been 38some consumer issues that they are working quickly to resolve. 1EPAC September 11, 2015 4 2 3 1 Regarding Program marketing efforts, Jonathan reported that a two- 2week campaign in southern California ran from August 17th through August 330th in English, Spanish, Cantonese and Mandarin. The next campaign will 4run in northern California from September 14th through September 27th.

5 In the Speech Generating Device (SGD) area, Jonathan reported that 679 of the 105 applications received have been approved with those 7remaining currently being processed. He added that the application 8process can be found on the CPUC website and stated that they are a 9funder of last resort after applicable public and private insurance. Jonathan 10stated that they’re working with the Department of Technology to get an 11SGD tablet pilot approved, hopefully in the third quarter of this year. He 12said that the pilot should run for about 24 months with tablets distributed 13within the first six months. He stated that they’re still negotiating the terms 14with the Department of Technology and with the vendor but will report back 15to the Committee with more information once the contract has been 16approved.

17 Jonathan explained that California has a multi-step budget process that 18begins by getting input from the advisory Committees and the public to 19develop a recommended budget, this year for fiscal year 2016-2017, for 20adoption by the Commission. Once adopted by the Commission, the 21budget goes through the state budget process along with the budget 22recommendations from all the other state agencies. The governor typically 23issues his proposed budget around January 15th which then goes through a 24legislative process to be adopted by the legislature. Once adopted by the 25legislature it goes back to the governor and should be in effect by June 2630th. Jonathan thanked the Committee for their budget recommendations 27and noted that the CPUC issued a response to those recommendations. 28He said that the budget looks similar to previous years with slight increases 29in certain areas, specifically the wireless devices area. 30 Jonathan reviewed each line of the Program’s draft budget for fiscal year 312016-2017 and answered questions from the Committee. 32 33 III. Public Input 34 Jonathan Villet of OneWorld Communications asked the Committee why 35they thought equipment distribution for the Program has been decreasing in 36recent years. Kenneth Rothschild stated that, for the deaf community, 37people are relying more heavily on Video Relay Services (VRS) than the 1EPAC September 11, 2015 5 2 3 1TTY. The Program does not currently offer VRS. Jonathan Lakritz added 2that the decreases may partially reflect a change in the way the Program 3categorizes equipment. He explained that during the 2013/2014 timeframe, 4where Jonathan Villet noted a decrease in distribution, the Program began 5separating equipment distribution and accessory distribution. Accessory 6distribution had been included in the equipment distribution total prior to 7this change and counted extension cords and batteries as accessories. 8Jonathan added that the Program has had to replace less equipment since 9they’ve become more efficient at educating consumers. Also, consumers 10tend to want wireless devices over landline devices. 11 12IV. CCAF Staff Reports 13 A. CRS Report – David Weiss 14 David Weiss directed the Committee to tabs four and five of the 15meeting binder to find the CRS and CapTel reports. He stated that the CRS 16III contract has expired and that the Program has a bridge contract in place 17with Hamilton Relay that started on June 2, 2015 and is expected to go 18through December 1, 2015. The contract for CRS IV has not yet been 19executed and is in process between DGS and the CPUC. It is expected to 20begin on December 2, 2015. David W. noted that since the transition, there 21have been complaints from CRS consumers, especially those using 711 22access from a TTY, due to compatibility issues with the Voice Over Internet 23Protocol (VoIP) line. David W. reported that the CapTel has done well but 24has seen slight decreases in distribution. He pointed to the second page of 25the CapTel report to a section titled CapTel 840i verification and explained 26that the CapTel 840i is compatible with the VoIP line and that users have 27opted to switch to this device from the CapTel 840 which does not work 28well with the digital line. David W. explained that those who want to switch 29must verify that they are hard of hearing, that they’re a CapTel consumer 30and that they’re a consumer of the DDTP. David W. reported that about five 31to six people per month swap their equipment for the CapTel 840i. 32 Per Mussie Gebre’s inquiry, David W. reported that he knows of two 33companies that are looking at the possibility of beta testing Braille devices 34that will work with CapTel phones. He said he’d report back with more 35information once he receives it. 36 37 B. Field Operations Report – Jennifer Minore 38 Jennifer Minore reported that the field staff continues to see 39confusion among Program consumers who are unaware of the effects that 1EPAC September 11, 2015 6 2 3 1the landline to digital conversion has on Program equipment. She said that 2she thinks it is important to continue educating consumers about the 3conversion. Regarding the May and June Field Operations Reports, 4Jennifer stated that between the seven full-time service centers and the 5Redding service center there were a total of eight resource fairs which 6finished up in May. She said that hearing screenings were offered at all of 7the fairs and that some had vision screenings as well. She stated that 88 8new customers were added to the Program as a result of the fairs. 9 10 C. Marketing Report – Mary Atkins 11 Mary reported that no marketing campaigns ran in May and that there 12was a campaign in northern California in June. She stated that there were 13no campaigns in July since it is not a good TV viewer month. A new 14campaign will run from September 14th through September 27th in northern 15California and a campaign for October 12th through October 25th has been 16approved for southern California. She said there are also campaigns 17scheduled through the remainder of the marketing service provider’s 18contract which include a northern California campaign from January 4th 19though January 17th, a southern California campaign from February 16th 20through February 29th, and a northern California campaign from March 7th 21through March 20th. 22 Regarding the California Phones website, Mary stated that they are 23currently working to make the site size responsive so that it’ll be uniformly 24accessible across all devices. 25 She reported that they’re updating the large print certification forms in 26English and Spanish and also the Brailled certification forms. 27 Mary then offered to distribute a disc of the Program’s TV spots to 28Committee members who’d like them. 29 Per Committee member questions about the potential use of social 30media to advertise the Program, Mary stated that the CPUC currently has 31no plans to include social media in their promotional efforts. 32 33 D. Consumer Affairs – Dan Carbone 34 Dan Carbone stated as an observation that consumers are under a 35lot of pressure from the telecommunications companies to switch from 36analog to digital lines. He wondered if there was any way the Program 37could work with some of the bigger telecommunications companies to 38inform customers of the Program that they’re going to experience a decline 39in service due to the conversion. 1EPAC September 11, 2015 7 2 3 1 He reported that a consumer made comments about the design of the 2Fortissimo speakerphone which has since been discontinued. Dan noted 3that the Program is currently testing the RCx1000 and is hopeful that the 4new device will take care of the problem with the remote mic. He said there 5was another comment regarding the rates associated with the wireless 6program but that that may be resolved with the potential addition of the 7Odin VI. 8 9 E. Customer Contact Report – Dave Kehn 10 Dave Kehn then directed the Committee to tab six of the meeting 11binder for the May and June Customer Contact Operations Reports. He 12reviewed the June reports, stating that 13,165 calls were handled at the 13contact center which was a 32% increase over May. Of those voice calls, 1412,111 came through the English line. He said that 2,415 equipment orders 15were processed by the warehouse which was a 17% increase over May. 16Dave K. said that 18,652 certification forms were distributed in June which 17was a 19% increase over May. There were 2,136 certification forms 18returned, 225 of which were Chinese language forms which was the 19biggest return for the language since tracking began in 2013. Dave K. 20reported that June is the end of the fiscal year and stated that the Program 21ended fiscal year 2014-2015 with a total customer base of 651,693 with 2225,215 new consumers added to the Program. 23 24 F. Equipment Report – John Koste 25 This item was skipped since John Koste will cover his report during 26the Equipment Update portion of the meeting. 27 28 G. Wireless Report – Dave Kehn 29 Dave Kehn then directed the Committee to the Wireless Report for 30May and June in tab six. He stated that there were 61 Jitterbugs distributed 31in June which was an above average rate for the device. He reported that 32the Program’s contract with GreatCall, the service provider for the Jitterbug, 33ended on July 31, 2015 so the Jitterbug was distributed up until that date. 34Dave K. added that the CPUC Communications Division (CD) has 35approved a pilot for the Odin VI which provides all of the benefits of the 36Jitterbug and more, especially for users who are blind or have low vision. 37He said that the rate plan for the Odin VI is much more competitive in terms 38of minutes, data and texting. 1EPAC September 11, 2015 8 2 3 1 Dave K. stated that they are beginning to wrap up the iPhone pilot 2and that they’re in the process of compiling the end of pilot detailed report 3which he expects to have ready for CD by the end of September. 4 Per comments from Kenneth Rothschild about the Program’s ability 5to keep up with new devices, Dave K. stated that Apple has pledged to 6support current Operating Systems and applications on their new devices. 7He said that the Program will not be able to keep up in terms of hardware 8but that the software will be supported. 9 10 V. Lunch – 11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. 11 12VI. CCAF Department Introduction 13 Mary Atkins reviewed the functions of the marketing department with the 14Committee, stating that she manages the Program’s marketing services 15provider contract which is generally a two year contract with a one year 16extension. The contract is currently held by TMD Group. Mary explained 17that the CCAF marketing team works with the CPUC on the DDTP website 18and with the marketing services provider on the California Phones website. 19Both sites are fully accessible and are available in English and Spanish. 20There are also landing pages in Chinese, Hmong, Russian and Vietnamese 21that redirect users to the Program certification form. She said that printed 22materials are either designed by the CCAF marketing department or by the 23marketing services provider and are printed most often by the Office of 24State Publishing. Mary discussed and presented some marketing materials 25to the Committee, including door hangers, post cards, presentation 26announcements, flyers, certification forms, online ads, general print ads, 27and magnetic car signs for Program fleet vehicles. She explained that there 28are two others on the CCAF marketing team, Nate Young and Julie Tran, 29who help with design work, complete website updates, help process the 30marketing services provider’s invoices, help prepare the department’s 31reports, and handle photography and videography. 32 33VII. Committee Member Equipment Update 34 Dave Kehn stated that Alma Ortiz would present on the Odin VI which 35will be piloted as a potential replacement for the Jitterbug after John Koste 36reviews two other pieces of equipment for the Committee with the intent to 37get the Committee’s approval to expand consumer testing. These devices 38are the Clarity D704 Amplified Cordless Phone paired with the ClearPower 39Battery Backup and the RCx1000 Remote Control Speakerphone. 1EPAC September 11, 2015 9 2 3 1 John reported that the Clarity D704 is lighter than the other 2speakerphones that have been in the Program. The backup battery is 7800 3megahertz, can last up to three days, and has two USB ports in addition to 4a standard adapter plug-in. It does not have a speakerphone feature but 5can be paired with hearing aids. 6 John then presented the RCx1000 which is intended to replace the 7Fortissimo. The Fortissimo has been discontinued by the manufacturer and 8the Program currently has two months’ worth of inventory left of the device. 9He explained that the phone is designed for people who struggle with upper 10body mobility. The device allows them to use various switches to use the 11phone. The RCx1000 has a remote with a standard battery that lasts up to 12six months and can be used with a lapel mic. 13 14MOTION: To approve expanded consumer testing for the Clarity D704 15Amplified Cordless Phone paired with the ClearPower Battery Backup 16and the RCx1000 Remote Control Speakerphone. The motion carried. 17 18 Alma Ortiz, IFOS III for the Program, then presented the Odin VI to 19the Committee which has been approved on a pilot basis. She stated that 20the Odin VI is a non-smartphone mobile device option with a sliding 21handset and talk-back features which can be turned on or off. The talk-back 22features will let the user know what their battery level is, what their signal 23strength is, can read back the phone number after they’ve entered it, and 24has an SOS feature that calls three preassigned emergency contacts when 25activated. She added that the phone has a talk time of five and a half 26hours, a standby time of 25 days and that it comes with a cradle that is 27recommended for charging. Alma informed the Committee that the Odin VI 28is classified for those who are low vision, blind or hard of hearing. The 29device is not considered an amplified phone so those with severe hearing 30loss may benefit more from a different device. 31 Per questions from Brian Pease, Dave K. stated that the rate plan 32associated with the Odin VI offers more minutes and texts at a substantially 33lower cost when compared to the GreatCall plan. Dave K. added that the 34phones will be locked GSM-based (Global System for Mobile 35Communications) devices, meaning that they’ll be locked to the Odin plan 36which rides on T-Mobile’s network. He said that locking the phones means 37the Program can get a cheaper rate plan for consumers. 38 39VIII. EPAC Business 1EPAC September 11, 2015 10 2 3 1 A. Report from the Chair 2 There was no report from the Chair. 3 4 B. Review of Action Items List 5Action Item #199: Mussie Gebre will continue to research equipment 6options for the deaf-blind community and will make recommendations 7to EPAC for devices to be considered for addition to the Program. 8 Mussie reported that he met with a representative of Communication 9Access Ability Consortium (CAAC) who informed him of a Braille Video 10Relay Service (VRS). He added that he has no additional information on 11the status of the DeafBlind Communicator. This item was left open. 12 Kenneth Rothschild asked again to receive a presentation from 13UltraTech on the DeafBlind Communicator. A formal request was sent 14through the Chair. 15 16 C. Member Reports 17 There were no member reports. 18 19 Per Sylvia’s request, Dave Kehn provided a brief update on the 20stand-alone answering machine, the HearAll Bluetooth cellphone amplifier, 21and Quattro 4 pilots. He said that the stand-alone answering machine 22began distribution on June 26, 2015 and that 281 out of the 500 available 23units have been distributed as of August 31, 2015. The return rate has 24been low. The HearAll Bluetooth cellphone amplifier began being 25distributed on July 22, 2015 and as of August 31, 2015, 27 of the 100 26available units have been distributed. Dave K. reported that they’re still 27receiving feedback for the device but that, so far, users have really liked it. 28All 40 available units for the Quattro 4 Bluetooth neckloop have been 29distributed and 31 surveys have been returned. Dave K. said that of the 31 30respondents, 10 are not really using the device because they’ve found it 31too difficult to use. The other 21 users recommend the device for others 32and are using it regularly. He added that the device is harder to use for 33those who are not as comfortable using technology or haven’t really used 34Bluetooth before. 35 36 D. Review of 2016-17 DDTP Draft Budget Resolution 37 The Committee did not discuss the draft budget beyond the update 38they received in the morning session from the CPUC. 39 1EPAC September 11, 2015 11 2 3 1IX. Future Meetings and Agendas 2 Sylvia Stadmire announced that both EPAC and TADDAC would 3meet jointly on November 13, 2015 on EPAC’s regular meeting day. 4 Patsy Emerson asked for the Committee’s input on what type of 5panel discussion they’d like to have at the joint meeting. 6 7The meeting was adjourned at 2:25 p.m. 8 9These minutes were prepared by Emily Claffy. 10