The money would be used "to help support programs that make phone service accessible to the poor," the Mercury News reported.
Opponents said the fees could cost California consumers more than $45 million annually.
"When hardworking Californians are already feeling taxed and 'feed' to death, not every new idea needs a new tax to fund it," Carl Guardino, Silicon Valley Leadership Group president and CEO, told KGO.
Meanwhile, the CTIA, a trade group that represents wireless carriers, is arguing that the PUC can't legally charge the fee because "texting is an information service like email, not a telecommunications service," the Mercury News reported.
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