California governor vetoes bill to restrict police power to blackout cellphones

Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) vetoed a bill that would have restricted the ability of police to block access to landline and wireless phone networks. The legislation was spurred by an incident last year when a San Francisco transit agency shut off the transmitters that allow for cellphone reception in four underground subway stations to disrupt a planned protest over a police shooting.

Civil-liberties groups condemned the blackout as an intrusion on free speech and compared it to crackdowns in authoritarian regimes. Agency officials said the blackout was necessary to prevent a potentially violent protest. The legislation would have required police to obtain a court order before shutting down phone service. Under "extreme and exceptional" circumstances, police could obtain the court order within six hours of disrupting service. In a statement, Gov Brown said he concluded the bill's requirements could "divert attention away from resolving the conflict without further threat to public safety." He encouraged lawmakers to revise the legislation so that it strikes a better balance between free speech and public safety.