Legislation Would Put New Regulations On Cell Providers

Sacramento, CA — Citing that many Californians went without cell service during PG&E’s planned power outages, a group of lawmakers introduced legislation in response to it.

The bill would require all cellphone towers in high-risk fire areas to be equipped with at least 72 hours of backup power.

The bill’s main author, Democratic Senator Mike McGuire, claims, “It is about life and death.”

The bill was introduced the same day that representatives from companies like AT&T and Verizon appeared at a state hearing. The Associated Press reports that industry officials told lawmakers the new proposal is “unfair” because the outages are being caused by a different company, PG&E. The proposal will be debated over the coming weeks.

The Federal Communications Commission reports that 874 cellphone towers were offline during a power shutoff on Oct. 27. The Mother Lode was one of the areas impacted.