8. Should Registration License Holders Be
Required to Prove Good Standing as a
Condition for Renewal or Transfer of Registration
Licenses?

The OIR proposed requiring registrants, as part of the license renewal process or an application to transfer a registration license, to demonstrate compliance with all Commission reporting, fee, and surcharge transmittal requirements, have no record of criminal activities, citations, financial irregularities, etc., and to disclose any past or pending regulatory sanctions from the FCC or another state regulatory agency.

Sempra recommends that any showing to prove good standing that the Commission may require as a condition of renewal or transfer of a registration license should be limited to demonstrating that there are no outstanding investigations or customer complaints alleging fraud or unlawful business practice, and registration license holders should have an opportunity to correct any administrative or minor technical problems the Commission may identify.

UCAN recommends that the Commission require license renewal applicants to demonstrate good standing, including demonstrating compliance with all Commission reporting, fee, and surcharge transmittal requirements, having no record of criminal activities, citations or financial irregularities, and disclosing any past or pending regulatory sanctions from the FCC or another state regulatory agency. UCAN recommends that, in addition to the Commission conducting its own independent review through civil court and regulatory agency records to verify good standing, any officers or directors not with the company at the time of initial registration or last renewal should be required to submit to all of the fingerprinting, background checks, and other showings adopted in this proceeding. UCAN recommends that an applicant requesting a change in ownership should be treated as a new applicant.

DRA agrees that, as a condition of license renewal or transfer, registration license holders must have no record of criminal activities, citations or financial irregularities, and be required to disclose any past or pending regulatory sanctions from the FCC or other regulatory agencies. However, DRA recommends that the Commission conduct its own background checks of applicants, including applicants' officers and directors, rather than rely on applicants to demonstrate fitness.

As discussed above, we will not require the periodic renewal of a registration license, and, therefore, requiring a showing of good standing as a part of the application renewal process is no longer an issue before us. However, we will require a showing of good standing for applications to transfer registration licenses.²⁸

Applications to transfer registration licenses will continue to be filed as Tier 2 Advice Letters, pursuant to General Order (GO) 96-B.²⁹ Because an applicant seeking to transfer a registration license (transferor) may have operated in California for some period of time prior to filing an application to transfer a registration license, transferors will be required to show good standing by, among other things, verifying compliance with Commission reporting, fee, and surcharge transmittal requirements.

Applications to transfer registration licenses will continue to be noticed in the Commission's Daily Calendar, and protests or responses to an application to transfer a registration license may be filed within 20 days of the date of filing of the advice letter, pursuant to Rule 7.1 of GO 96-B General Rules.

Currently, registrants that are granted operating authority are required to submit a written acceptance of the grant to the Director of the Communications Division. This requirement will continue to apply to new registration licenses and transferred licenses, and registrants that are granted a new or transferred license must provide the Director of the Communications Division a written acceptance of the license before exercising the authority granted by that license.

²⁸ GO 96-B, Telecommunications Industry Rule 1.13, defines "transfers."

²⁹ See GO 96-B, Telecommunications Industry Rules 7.2, 7.4 and 8.6.2.