WASHINGTON-California Public Utility Commission members Carl Wood and Geoffrey Brown, who joined in revising a bill of rights for telecom consumers that mobile-phone carriers continue to oppose, said they plan to take their case to the press.
Wood and Brown said they plan to meet with editorial boards of California newspapers in coming weeks. The proposed bill of rights, which impose new rules on mobile-phone carriers and force them to provide greater disclosure to consumers, is scheduled on the PUC’s April 22 agenda. But Wood said he does not expect a vote until May in deference to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) 180-day regulatory moratorium last November. The PUC is not bound by that directive, but chose to honor it nonetheless.
Brown told RCR Wireless News he has spoken with the governor’s office, which is concerned about any negative fallout a bill of rights could have on the struggling California economy. California cellular operators predict a bill of rights will hurt jobs in the state.
If other PUC commissioners continue to delay votes on the bill of rights, the three commissioners on the five-member PUC who support the initiative-Wood, Brown and Loretta Lynch-could force a vote by overruling a hold on the bill of rights. The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association has spent more than $500,000 on California lobbyists in hopes of derailing the measure.
