The California Public Utilities Commission has withdrawn a proposal that would have added a surcharge for text messages sent from a cell phone across the state, including Santa Clarita, after the Federal Communications Commission declared that text messaging was an “information service.”

The commission released a proposal earlier this week detailing a plan to find new revenue streams to make up for a deficit created by a state program for a low-income cellular service.

The proposed tax would not have been applied to individual texts, but instead create a monthly surcharge based on a cellular bill that includes any fees for text message services, according to officials.

The proposal faced strong opposition from industry trade groups like the CTIA, which represents AT&T Mobility, Sprint and T-Mobile.

California officials argued that text messaging was a telecommunications service, meaning that they were subject to the collection of surcharges under California law.

CTIA officials argued that if texts are an information service, then the state doesn’t have authority over them and can’t add on surcharges. It claims the proposal would violate federal law.

On Wednesday, the FCC ruled that text messages were an information service, not a telecommunications service. Under the Federal Telecommunications Act, state authority over information services is limited.

As a result, the California Public Utilities Commission assigned commissioner, Carla J. Peterman, withdrew the proposal, and text messaging has officially been classified as an information service under federal law, according to officials.

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