State telecommunications policies are set forth in Public Utilities Code Section 709. These policies are as follows:
(a) To continue our universal service commitment by assuring the continued affordability and widespread availability of high-quality telecommunications services to all Californians.
(b) To focus efforts on providing educational institutions, health care institutions, community-based organizations, and governmental institutions with access to advanced telecommunications services in recognition of their economic and societal impact.
(c) To encourage the development and deployment of new technologies and the equitable provision of services in a way that efficiently meets consumer need and encourages the ubiquitous availability of a wide choice of state-of-the-art services.
(d) To assist in bridging the "digital divide" by encouraging expanded access to state-of-the-art technologies for rural, inner-city, low-income, and disabled Californians.
(e) To promote economic growth, job creation, and the substantial social benefits that will result from the rapid implementation of advanced information and communications technologies by adequate long-term investment in the necessary infrastructure.
(f) To promote lower prices, broader consumer choice, and avoidance of anticompetitive conduct.
(g) To remove the barriers to open and competitive markets and promote fair product and price competition in a way that encourages greater efficiency, lower prices, and more consumer choice.
(h) To encourage fair treatment of consumers through provision of sufficient information for making informed choices, establishment of reasonable service quality standards, and establishment of processes for equitable resolution of billing and service problems.34
This detailed list of state policy objectives sets the goals for telecommunications regulatory policy proceedings, such as this one. It also clearly calls for regulators to adopt policies that encourage increased access to, and usage of, advanced telecommunication services.
Furthermore, in an effort to bring advanced telecommunication services to all Californians, the Legislature ordered the Commission to "consider . . . [h]ow to encourage the timely and economic development of an advanced public communications infrastructure, which may include a variety of competitive providers."35 It declares that any new policies adopted as a result of this review should seek to achieve the following goals:
(1) To provide all citizens and businesses with access to the widest possible array of advanced communications services.
(2) To provide the state's educational and health care institutions with access to advanced communications services.
(3) To ensure cost-effective deployment of technology so as to protect ratepayers' interests and the affordability of telecommunications services . . .36
This provision clearly establishes that regulatory policies should encourage access to a wide choice of advanced telecommunication services.
Similar direction is found in statutory provisions regarding universal service. Public Utilities Code Section 871.7 provides that the "feasibility" of redefining universal telephone service to include advanced telecommunication services depends on the following considerations:
(1) Technological and competitive neutrality.
(2) Equitable distribution of the funding burden for redefined universal service . . . among all affected consumers and industries, thereby ensuring that regulated utilities' ratepayers do not bear a disproportionate share of funding responsibility.
(3) Benefits that justify the costs.37
Thus, the Legislature reiterated its intent that our policies encourage development of a wide variety of advanced telecommunication facilities and services.
Finally, it is the policy of the State of California, as expressed in Public Utilities Code Section 767.7(a)(1), to ". . . encourage [] the rapid and economic development of telecommunications services to all Californians." This desire is consistent with that expressed by Congress. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 declares that "[i]t shall be the policy of the United States to encourage the provision of new technologies and services to the public."38
State policy encourages the deployment of advanced telecommunications networks. We must seek to ensure that, in applying CEQA, we do so in a way that minimizes any harm to the State's clear and oft reiterated policy favoring the widespread deployment and availability of advanced telecommunications services, including broadband and wireless technologies. When we are considering how best to apply CEQA for telecommunications carriers under our jurisdiction, among those proposals that comply with CEQA, we will give significant weight to those that best foster the deployment of an advanced telecommunications network.
We believe that striking this balance is achievable and will be the central focus of this proceeding. Parties are directed to develop proposals for how the Commission can comply with CEQA requirements and to comment on how these proposals are consistent with California's clearly articulated policy favoring the deployment of advanced telecommunications services. We ask parties to comment on how to best balance the environmental protections provided by CEQA with the myriad benefits deployment of advanced telecommunications facilities brings to California.
For ILECs such as AT&T and Verizon, and also for certain other telecommunications carriers that have CPCNs that contain no restrictions, the Commission does not currently perform CEQA review. We seek parties comment on whether CEQA requires review of network expansions by telecommunications carriers under our jurisdiction that already have Commission authority to serve the entire state or a specific service territory. We also request parties to provide us with a legal basis for their conclusions.
34 Pub. Util. Code, § 709.
35 Pub. Util. Code, § 882(c)(2).
36 Pub. Util. Code, § 882.
37 Pub. Util. Code, § 871.7(d).
38 47 U.S.C., § 157(a).