PUC Shelves Phone Rules
California regulators voted Thursday to shelve the first set of consumer protection rules in the nation to cover both conventional and cellular phones, handing a victory to carriers that had complained bitterly about them.
Consumer advocates said the California Public Utilities Commission’s 3-1 vote effectively killed the so-called telecommunications bill of rights.
“This is not the end of the issue,” said Janee Briesemeister, a senior policy analyst with Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports magazine. “Since the majority of the PUC has turned their backs on consumers, we’re going to take it to the Legislature.”
The rules -- which were adopted by the commission May 27 and technically took effect Dec. 6 -- spelled out 15 requirements aimed at protecting people from deceptive marketing and billing.
One would have let customers cancel new service within 30 days without penalty; the current industry norm is 14 days. Other provisions would have forced carriers to give the state’s 20 million cellular customers more detailed pricing information and to print phone bills in at least 10-point type to ensure readability.
PUC Commissioner Susan P. Kennedy said Thursday’s vote didn’t doom the rules but only postponed their ultimate implementation. Indeed, the measure on which the commission voted included language stating that the PUC would decide by the end of the year when the rules would again go into effect.
Commissioner Geoffrey F. Brown, who spent four years drafting the rules, contended that wouldn’t happen.
“Vague statements that this is our intention to return to this matter ... within the year are just that: undefined, unenforceable promises,” Brown said. “The notion that this is merely a temporary setback while implementation of the rules are worked out is folly.”
Since May, 45 carriers have filed petitions asking for more time to put the rules into practice. Kennedy held that up as evidence that the rules were too “complex and sweeping” and that the state needed to take a step back.
She added that the vote didn’t leave Californians without protection.
“In no way does our decision today impact the commission’s enforcement of rules that protect consumers” from carriers that charge people for services they didn’t order or switch consumers to other carriers without their permission, she said.
The commission’s vote reflected changes in the panel’s makeup.
In May, the vote was 3 to 2. The terms of two commissioners who then cast “yes” ballots -- Carl W. Wood and Loretta M. Lynch -- have since expired, and they were replaced by appointees of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who opposes the rules.
One of the new commissioners, Dian Grueneich, joined Kennedy and Commission President Michael R. Peevey in voting to shelve the rules. The second new member, Steve Poizner, hasn’t been sworn into office.
Wireless carriers hailed the vote.
“The rules would have set California on a path toward higher prices, fewer choices and less information for consumers,” the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Assn. said.
On the other side, Bob Finkelstein, director of the Utility Reform Network in San Francisco, called the vote “a travesty.”
“It took four years of concerted effort on the part of consumers and industry alike to come up with the bill of rights the commission adopted in 2004,” he said. “They’ve managed to undo all that in a matter of days.”
Whether legislators will take up the issue remains to be seen.
State Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey) said she was “seriously considering” introducing a bill that would have the same effect as the PUC rules.
“The PUC is clearly more interested in protecting the wireless phone companies than it is in protecting the millions of Californians who use cellphones,” she said.
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Times staff writer Marc Lifsher contributed to this report.
