SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The California State Senate passed SB.649 Wednesday, a highly contentious Bill. The Bill will enable placement of powerful microwave radiation antennas called ‘small cells’ on utility poles, street lamps, traffic lights and street signs throughout California neighborhoods as well as refrigerator-sized “associated power equipment” on sidewalks.
According to Scientists for Wired Technology the new (and unnecessary) layer of ultra-high frequency antennas, potentially in the millions, will be located right outside homes and businesses, and as close as 10-15 feet from 2nd story windows. They will operate 24/7 and present significant biological and health risks to residents. Also, antenna emissions have been calculated on the basis of 6 Watts of power, yet there is the potential to turn up the power to 300 to 500 Watts, with no monitoring required.
(Note, over 200 scientists from 41 nations, with expertise in the biological and health effects of RF/MW, have appealed to the United Nations to protect humans and wildlife from wireless technologies. See Video https://vimeo.com/123468632)
At the same time, SB.649 will usurp city and county planning rights provided for in the California Constitution, Article XI and Article XII, Section 8, overriding local decision-making authority in favor of the commercially motivated expansion desires of the wireless industry.
Trial attorney, Harry Lehmann, Esq. says, “With 110 cities opposing SB.649, the State of California can expect a Constitutional battle. The proposed constant spraying of California citizens with carcinogenic radiation, and the taking away of local government rights, is the sort of greed-driven misconduct our constitution seeks to avoid.”
Reinette Senum, City Council Member from Nevada City, CA who testified against SB.649 in April, said, “This is nothing short of the telecommunications industry (and State) basically hijacking and staging a hostile takeover of our local governments—cities and counties. It will remove local authority and also risk property rights.”
Essentially, wireless providers are securing cut-rate, rent-controlled access to publicly owned structures so they can expand their operations, at will, without regulation.
Besides the health risks, and the illegal grab of local government planning rights, SB.649 is also in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Federal Fair Housing Act, creating access barriers for the estimated 1.2 million Californians who are already electrosensitive.
Mark Graham of Scientists for Wired Technology says, “We are concerned that members of the California Senate may be under the influence of the telecommunications industry, similar to what may be the case with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), which, it was reported recently, suppressed—for 7 years—public health warnings about cell phone risks.”
The Harvard University report, “Captured Agency: How the Federal Communications Commission Is Dominated By The Industries It Presumably Regulates,” suggests the FCC also may be under the heavy influence of the wireless industry.
The two co-sponsors of SB.649, Senator Ben Hueso and Assembly Member Bill Quirk, have been involved in the promotion of recent grants from AT&T, one to California State University East Bay Foundation, for $500,000, and a smaller grant of $25,000 to the Parent Institute for Quality Education.
Expanded Media Advisory from Scientists for Wired Technology
http://scientists4wiredtech.com/2017/06/press-advisory-ca-sb-649-passed-by-senate/
Contact your government representatives:
Senators
Assembly Members
http://assembly.ca.gov/assemblymembers