WASHINGTON-California Public Utilities Commission member Susan Kennedy has decided not to offer a competing bill of rights for telecom consumers-one that would have exempted mobile-phone carriers from new rules-during Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s review of existing state regulations.
“We will not put out an alternate during the governor’s moratorium on new regulations. We support the governor’s objective of analyzing the economic impact of new regulations before moving forward with the [consumer bill of rights] proposed decision, and that includes any alternate Commissioner Kennedy might write,” said Ross Lajeunesse, chief of staff to Kennedy.
Mobile-phone operators strongly oppose the bill of rights, which was penned by Commissioner Carl Wood. Wood is working with Commissioner Geoffrey Brown, the swing vote, on making changes to the plan. The wireless industry predicts the bill of rights will lead to job losses and hurt the California economy.
Kennedy agrees.
“We also believe the economic analysis will show that more harm than good will come from the implementation of new, highly prescriptive regulations on telecommunications companies, and that’s not even taking into account the time, expense and effort involved with the wrangling and litigation that will likely occur if we try to put these new regulations into effect,” said Lajeunesse.
Given Schwarzenegger’s request that the California PUC honor an executive order freezing new regulations for 180 days, it is unclear when-or whether-regulators will vote on Wood’s bill of rights. The PUC, an independent agency, is not bound by the governor’s directive.
