quote:
Call blocking: The numbers certainly lend credence to state Sen. Mark Leno's assertion that the telecommunications industry is the main force behind efforts to block his bill to require kill switches on cell phones, which would render them useless if stolen.
Before the measure came up for a vote in the Senate on Thursday, more than 20 lobbyists were working the hallways outside the chambers, urging lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to vote "no."
Here's another telling number: In the 2010-12 election cycles, the telecom industry donated $1.35 million to state senators, according to Maplight.com, which tracks big donors in state and federal politics. Of that, $700,000 came from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.
Result: Despite the backing of law enforcement officials, the kill-switch bill fell two votes short of the majority it needed.
Leno says he'll keep trying. The bill, has until the end of May to get out of the Senate and over to the Assembly.
"There is no good reason why this bill should not get off the Senate floor," Leno said.
unquote
SF Chronicle 27APril 2014
With a kill switch, muggings for cellphones will plummet. So corporate big bucks sway legislators in the interest of propping up sales of replacement cellphones, supporting the mugging of citizens.
So much for the unsullied adoration of corporate capitalism and representative democracy.