Susan P. Kennedy, Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission

At a time when accelerating developments in technology are constantly threatening to run ahead of the legal and regulatory frameworks that increasingly seem to constrain them, it's refreshing to find a public who both understands the problem and is intensely committed to doing something about it.

Susan P. Kennedy is a member of the California Public Utility Commission. More specifically, she is the Assigned Commissioner on Broadband Deployment, charged with overseeing the development of public policy for the State of California in this crucial area.

Commissioner Kennedy spoke last Friday at a combined luncheon meeting of TechNet, AeA, and the Silicon Valley Manufacturers Group. You can read her remarks to this meeting by clicking here.

Commissioner Kennedy spoke today with California Politics Today and again emphasized the need to end the cross-subsidization of legacy technologies and unleash the power of the market to deliver better services and new services at lower costs for everyone.

You can listen to that conversation with Commissioner Kennedy, recorded as she drove towards Sacramento this morning, using her hands-free cellular phone, by clicking here.

Commissioner Kennedy concluded the interview by saying that with two "backward-looking" commissioners leaving the PUC at year's end, to be replaced by new members more in tune with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's desire for an aggressive broadband policy for the state, she was optimistic about future progress in telecommunications policy in California.