Thanks.

Ameenah McAuley, International Staff Representative
CWA District 9
2804 Gateway Oaks Drive, Suite 150
Sacramento, CA 95833
Phone: (916) 921-4500
Fax: (916) 921-4559
Cell: (916) 716-2357
Email: amcauley@cwa-union.org

Please print this letter and mail or fax it to Senator Alex Padilla

FAX: 916 324-6645

Senator Alex Padilla, Chair
Energy, Utilities and Communications
State Capitol Building #5046
Sacramento, CA 95814


Dear Senator Padilla,

My name is (name)______________________ and I live in the community of (city)______________________ in California. I have worked for AT&T as a
(title) ________________ for (# of years)__________ years.

I am writing as both a consumer and employee that would be negatively impacted by the passage of SB 1161; therefore, I urge you to oppose SB 1161 because it would permanently prevent the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) the ability to regulate internet protocol (IP) enabled services which include landline and wireless services. As a (title) ___________________, I work directly with (choose: selling, installing, maintaining) voice and data service over internet protocol for AT&T.

The CPUC regulations in place today not only protect the consumers from abuses but it also ensures that corporations have a sufficient number of well trained employees, like myself and co-workers, to provide the reliable cutting edge services that consumers have paid for and expect. Stripping the authority of the CPUC would be an unjustified rollback of California's ability to protect the public from corporate misconduct, and is particularly unwise given the vital role that internet phone technology will increasingly play in the daily lives of Californians. With the current regulatory protections, my employer attempts to cut corners by not truly fixing the problem but putting temporary cheap fixes in place, I can only imagine the nightmare consumers and employees would be subject to in a non-regulatory environment. At a time when technology is constantly evolving and rapidly developing in ways no one can fully predict, the state should not relinquish its oversight.

Adoption of SB 1161 would permanently eliminate protections such as:
1. No standards for service quality and line maintenance for clear, reliable calls.
2. No protections against unauthorized charges (cramming).
3. No ability to track and resolve customer complaints.
4. No guarantee of universal "LifeLine" and other programs to assist low income customers.
5. No guarantee of low-cost service to rural customers provided by Carriers of Last Report.
6. No rules that govern fair billing and collection practices.
7. No guarantee of accommodations and programs to serve customers with disabilities.
8. No guarantee of protecting privacy of subscribers' information or limiting use of subscriber information for marketing.
9. No guarantee of preventing Caller ID disclosures.

Millions of Californians are turning to cable and phone companies for telephone and internet services and in many areas of the state, near-monopolies for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are already in place. The future of this industry could potentially leave areas in California without significant phone service competition.

Quality, affordable telephone service is an essential public need, especially in times of natural disaster or medical emergency. As internet telephone service becomes the dominant mode of voice communications in California, we need to protect the CPUC's role in overseeing this developing industry. This is a complex issue, involving an emerging technology whose future impact is difficult to predict and permanent denial of the CPUC to review and provide educated insight of how to protect consumers and workers would be a travesty and injustice to all involved. The state of California must not forfeit its right to protect consumers, and preserve the affordability and quality of telephone service for all Californians.

On behalf of the workers and families of CWA, I urge you to protect consumers and working families by ensuring that SB 1161 is withdrawn.

Sincerely,

(your name)

cc: CWA Local Union 9410 (email:info@cwa9410.com)
CWA District 9 (fax 916 921-4559)