WASHINGTON-The California Public Utilities Commission dropped from today’s meeting agenda a proposed bill of rights for telecom consumers, the sixth time since September a vote on the controversial measure has been sidetracked.
The latest delay comes just weeks after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the PUC to voluntarily honor an executive order establishing a six-month regulatory moratorium. The PUC, being an independent body, is not covered by the governor’s directive.
PUC President Michael Peevey and Commissioner Susan Kennedy, who are cool to Commissioner Carl Wood’s bill of rights, support Schwarzenegger’s request. That is not necessarily true of the other three commissioners-Wood, Geoffrey Brown and Loretta Lynch-who happen to back the bill of rights.
Mobile-phone carriers, which would be subject to a new set of rules if the bill of rights passes, strongly oppose the initiative.
