WASHINGTON-The California Public Utilities Commission today suspended the bill of rights for telecom consumers, with new Commissioner Dian Grueneich casting the deciding vote to put on hold a sweeping rule vigorously opposed by the mobile-phone industry and GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Commissioner Geoffrey Brown, whose bill of rights plan was approved by the CPUC last May, accused Commissioner Susan Kennedy of having a broader agenda in her push to stay the bill of rights.
“Suspension, in this case, is a fig leaf for elimination,” said Brown. The former San Francisco public defender called the bill-of-rights stay “the most shameful act” he has witnessed during the last four years.
Before the 3-1 vote, consumers advocates urged CPUC members to oppose the Kennedy measure. Kennedy argued numerous requests by carriers for compliance extensions and other factors justify putting the brakes on the bill of rights and giving the comprehensive rule another look. The CPUC recently gave carriers until April to meet new requirements, most of which were to have kicked in last December.
Grueneich, a Democrat appointed by Schwarzenegger in December, joined pro-business Democrats Kennedy and CPUC President Michael Peevey in shelving the bill of rights until guidelines can be re-examined. The bill of rights calls for greater wireless carrier disclosure and fairness in billing, marketing and contracts.
Grueneich, who previously headed an energy and environmental consulting firm, said she was troubled by some aspects of the bill of rights and the process by which it was enacted. Gruenich, who now appears to have replaced Brown as the swing vote on the issue, said she plans to solicit input from the public, consumer advocates and industry in coming months on how the bill of rights can be improved.
Peevey said today’s vote was not an underhanded way to undermine the bill of rights, whose goals he said he still supports. Peevey said he is committed to issuing a new bill-of-rights decision by the end of the year.
Meantime, the mobile-phone industry has challenged the bill of rights in federal court in California.
Schwarzenegger’s other appointee to the CPUC-Republican Steve Poizner-has yet to join the five-member agency. In 2001, Poizner sold Snap Track Inc. to Qualcomm Inc. for $1 billion.
