CPUC Rejects GTL Jurisdiction Question on ICS

Global Tel*Link must produce information about video calling services even before the California Public Utilities Commission decides if it has jurisdiction over such services, ruled Assigned Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves and Administrative Law Judge Cathleen Fogel Monday in an inmate calling services rulemaking (docket 20-10-002). The CPUC’s independent Public Advocates Office asked the commission to order GTL to respond to its discovery request. The company claimed video calling was outside the CPUC’s jurisdiction, limiting PAO discovery rights. “Like any other tribunal, the Commission has jurisdiction to determine its own jurisdiction, and to develop the facts necessary to make that determination,” the commissioner and ALJ ruled before a Wednesday pre-hearing conference. “Because this is ... a novel issue for the Commission, the information sought by Public Advocates may help us answer the jurisdictional question.” Even if material sought isn’t admissible, GTL hasn’t shown it couldn’t “lead to the discovery of admissible evidence,” they said. GTL declined to comment.