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Los Angeles Times/ ­- Politics, Qua, 18 de Abril de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Civil Rights)
State Senate panel backs bill to deregulate
Internet phone service
Proponents say the bill would lock the state's hands­-off
policy into law, but critics say it would strip the PUC of
its power to require phone firms to provide basic
land­-line service to any consumer. By Marc Lifsher,
Los Angeles Times April 18, 2012 SACRAMENTO —
An industry­-backed bill that would preempt state
agencies from regulating Internet­-enabled voice and
data transmissions won unanimous approval from a
state Senate committee in its first legislative hearing.
Amid protests from consumer advocates, the bill's
author, Sen. Alex Padilla (D­-Pacoima), tried to
downplay the significance of the measure, which
proponents said would simply lock the state's current
hands­-off policy into law. Such a reiteration of existing
practices would give Silicon Valley businesses "the
certainty" to continue developing innovative,
Internet­-powered products and programs, Padilla
argued at a hearing Tuesday of the Senate Energy,
Utilities and Telecommunications Committee. The bill
"maintains the environment that has taken us to where
we are today and ensures it will continue tomorrow,"
said Robert Callahan, a lobbyist for TechAmerica, a
Silicon Valley telecommunications and technology
trade group. But opponents, mainly consumer
advocates for the poor, elderly and minorities,
countered that Padilla's bill, SB 1161, would strip the
California Public Utilities Commission of its last vestige
of power to require telephone companies to provide
universal, basic land­-line service to any consumer.
Those same rules also mandate that subsidized
connections be available for qualifying low­-income
residents and that special equipment be given to
people with hearing disabilities. "We see this as a
withering away and the elimination of PUC regulation
over telecommunication," said Richard Holober,
executive director of the Consumer Federation of
California. "We think that would be bad public policy."
Residential land­-line phone service was almost
completely deregulated in 2006, but the PUC retained
limited authority over service quality and availability.
The door, however, was always left open for the
agency to re­-regulate the industry, should that be
needed in the future. The proposed law would
eliminate that option. The bill is being pushed by AT&T
Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., which own
networks connecting about 11 million land lines
statewide, as well as major tech companies such as
Cisco Systems Inc. that make communications
hardware and software. AT&T was the fifth­-largest
contributor to Padilla's campaign coffers with $23,900
from 2007 through 2010, according to nonpartisan
political data firm Map­- Light.org. In all, Padilla
received $69,644 from telecom services and
equipment interests during that period. Padilla, the
committee's chairman, bristled at charges that he was
in league with telecommunications, cable TV and
Internet companies to jettison California's minimal
remaining oversight of basic phone service. He
promised to amend his bill as it makes its way through
the Legislature to "make it abundantly clear" that it
does not eliminate any existing regulation of
conventional phone service through land­-line
connections. Padilla's pledge clearly swayed
committee members who expressed skepticism about
the need for the bill, which passed on an 11­-0 vote. "I
don't want to vote for diminishing any existing
consumer protections," such as universal service, said
Sen. Christine Kehoe (D­-San Diego) toward the end of
more than two hours of testimony and deliberation. But
Padilla's stab at compromise didn't win any applause
from the bill's strongest critics. Voice over Internet
Protocol technology is so inexpensive and ubiquitous
that it is expected to replace the current copper wire
lines in the near future, they said. Copper networks
already depend on VOIP to complete most calls, and
the technology is at the heart of all cable phone and
fiber­-optic and long­-distance service. "As more people
use voice over Internet, fewer people will have
[consumer] protections," said Mark Toney, executive
director of the Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco
consumer group. People who live in isolated
communities with VOIP phones won't have the legal
right to get subsidized, low­-cost service, he said. State
policymakers should provide more, not less, oversight
of the communications industry if they don't want to
repeat the mistakes that they and their federal
counterparts made when they deregulated the energy
and the home mortgage industries, said Samuel Kang,
managing attorney for the Greenlining Institute, a civil
rights organization in Berkeley. "Why are we now
trying to take authority out of the hands of the PUC
and outsource that accountability to Washington,
D.C.?" he said. The PUC has so far taken no public
position on the Padilla bill. marc.lifsher@latimes.com
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