Filed 2/1/23 Securus Technologies v. Public Utilities Com. CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(a). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115(a). IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION FOUR SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES, B320207 LLC, Commission Decision No. Petitioner, 21-08-037 v. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISION, Respondent; THE UTILITY REFORM NETWORK et al., Real Parties in Interest. ORIGINAL PROCEEDINGS; petition for writ of review of a decision by the California Public Utilities Commission (Cal. PUC Decision No. 21-08-037). Decision affirmed. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, F. Jackson Stoddard and Russell M. Blau for Petitioner. Christine Hammond, Dale Holszchuh and Elena Gekker for Respondent. Edelson and Yaman Salahi; Stephen Raher for Real Party in Interest Prison Policy Initiative, Inc. INTRODUCTION Securus Technologies, LLC (Securus), is one of six telecommunications companies providing incarcerated persons calling services (IPCS) in California. In this original proceeding, Securus challenges the decision of the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) adopting interim rate relief for IPCS in the first phase of a two-phase rulemaking proceeding. Among other things, the PUC’s decision: (1) found IPCS providers operate as locational monopolies within the incarceration facilities they serve and exercise market power; (2) adopted an interim cap on intrastate IPCS rates of $0.07 per minute for all debit, prepaid, and collect calls; and (3) prohibited providers from charging various ancillary fees associated with intrastate and jurisdictionally mixed1 IPCS. The interim rate cap and prohibition on ancillary fees will remain in place until the PUC adopts a subsequent decision in the next phase of its rulemaking proceeding, which remains open. We granted Securus’s petition for writ of review to consider its request that we invalidate the PUC’s decision. In support of its request for relief, Securus contends the decision is unsupported by substantial evidence, is arbitrary and an abuse of discretion, ran afoul of certain procedural requirements, and violated Securus’s constitutional rights. As discussed below, we conclude Securus has not shown the decision must be set aside. Accordingly, we affirm the PUC’s decision. 1 A call is “jurisdictionally mixed” if the end points of the call cannot definitely be determined. (See fn. 15, post, and related text.) 2 BACKGROUND I. Federal Regulation of Interstate IPCS The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began regulating interstate IPCS in 2012, when it opened a rulemaking proceeding to address concerns regarding a lack of competition in the IPCS market. The next year, in FCC Order No. 13-113, the FCC determined rates for calling services used by incarcerated people greatly exceeded the reasonable costs of providing those services, and adopted interim interstate rate caps of $0.21 per minute for debit and prepaid calls, and $0.25 per minute for collect calls. In October 2015, the FCC issued an order (FCC Order No. 15-136) “adopt[ing] a comprehensive …
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