WASHINGTON-The California Public Utilities Commission has rejected a request by mobile-phone carriers for additional time to comment on two new proposals for a telecom consumer bill of rights, making more likely a May 27 vote on an initiative vehemently opposed by cell-phone firms.
“I have considered the motion and have determined that it should be denied,” said Commissioner Carl Wood, author of the original bill of rights, in Monday’s ruling.
The CPUC is now set to vote on three different bills of rights next Thursday. The mobile-phone industry has spent more than a half-million dollars on lobbying in hopes of preventing the passage of the bill of rights-a regime of new carrier rules and consumer safeguards-from taking place in California and spreading to other states.
Last Friday, wireless operators asked the CPUC to extend the comment period for two new bills of rights issued late last week by Commissioners Susan Kennedy and Geoffrey Brown.
Kennedy asked for comments on her draft by May 20 and reply comments by May 25. Brown sought feedback on his bill of rights by May 20.
Wireless operators wanted comment and reply comment dates on the new proposals-which are less regulatory than the Wood plan-extended to June 14 and June 24, respectively.
GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his staff have lobbied Kennedy and Brown to avoid imposing burdensome state regulations on wireless and wireline telecom carriers.
