WASHINGTON-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as early as today is expected to appoint former Federal Communications Commission member Rachelle Chong to replace Susan Kennedy on the California Public Utilities Commission.
Chong, a Republican, was an FCC member between 1994 and 1997 and was closely involved in wireless issues. She currently operates a jewelry store in San Francisco.
A co-worker of Chong’s today said the decision has been made, and he believed a press release on Chong’s appointment to the CPUC was to have gone out yesterday. The Chong CPUC announcement could have been delayed by Schwarzenegger’s outline on Tuesday of his state budget plan.
The vacancy on the CPUC was created when Schwarzenegger made Democrat Susan Kennedy his chief of staff in December.
Chong would join the CPUC at a time when the agency is poised to vote on a Kennedy proposal to overhaul the bill of rights for telecom consumers. The CPUC approved the bill of rights in 2004, but the rule was suspended a year ago this month so that commissioners could revisit new regulations governing carrier disclose, marketing, bill and contracts requirements.
Schwarzenegger and the mobile phone industry oppose the bill of rights-including the revised rule-while consumer advocates, disability proponents and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer support keeping the existing bill of rights intact. Some in the California legislature want the telecom bill of rights to be a state law.
