what are my rights after receiving a ticket for talking on my cell phone while driving

You have to ask yourself, "How much of my time and trouble is that extra $21 worth?" If you want to pursue it, call the traffic court clerk at the court that sent you the letter, and ask her to explain the charges.
I agree that California's practice of adding "penalty assessments" to fines is just plain sleazy. It was sleazy when the assessments were just an increment (15% or so), and it's sleazy now that they are several times the fine itself. When traffic judges sentence you, half the time they don't even KNOW the eventual fine because they can't figure it out. The assessments change from moment to moment. I wouldn't be surprised if they changed again soon. Can you guess in which direction?
Seriously, we should call it a FINE, and tell people what the amount is. Playing GOTCHA with penalty assessments is BS.

It is darn near impossible to fight "the man" on issues like this. California needs to change its laws in this area to be more fair to the public, in my opinion.

Probably not worth the fight. Most officers and courts aren't up to speed on the fines associted with the new law. Just pay it and move on.

Dude I got a ticket for the same thing and I had a spotless record up until today. I suggest if you want to save the $93 bucks GO TO COURT! If the cop decides to fight REAL CRIME like drugs,murder,robbery,rape and prostitution he might just not show up to court for such a petty thing like answering a call. I am going to court and hopefully he respects tax payers money and fights real crime in my neighborhood for example like guys selling dope near vons supermarket!
I will fight this not just for the 93 bucks but to know that I am and always will be ticketless!
p.s if the cop shows up just admit the guilt or give an excuse and you might get off but dont worry you cant get in trouble so DO IT AND IT WONT COST ANYMORE MONEY JUST EXTRA TIME IF YOU LOSE.

California now has over 269 dedicated funding streams for court fines, fees, forfeitures, surcharges and penalty assessments that may be levied on offenders and violators. These fines, fees, forfeitures, surcharges, and penalties appear in statutes in 16 different government codes, and are in addition to the many fees, fines, and special penalties that local governments may impose on most offenses. So the info. you received by calling the local court may be correct regarding how much they add to a specific violation, but it may not account for other assessments imposed by the state of California.

You can fight the ticket if you wish by pleading not guilty to the charge. You'll then be called back for a trial date, and you'll have to give the judge your testimony vs. the police officer's tesimony which he will also present to the judge on that day. There is actually a 20 to 25% chance however that the cop will not show up on that trial date to testify against you, which will then result in your case being dismissed and your $93 bail amount being returned to you in the following weeks in the form of a check in the mail. Also, this violation will not show up on your driving record either since the charge gets dismissed, so you won't need to attend traffic school (spending more money and time) to get it removed.

If the cop does show up on your trial date however, then just change your plea to guilty, and you can even explain to the judge that the reason you initially contested the ticket was because the amount didn't make sense to you. The judge may or may not explain it to you (depending on how he/she feels at the time, or how much he/she actually knows about the penalty assessment procedure). But you will lose the case and the $93, and then you'll have to spend even more to attend traffic school to get the violation removed from your driving record.