This California Bill Would Bring Back Net Neutrality With A Vengeance

On Dec 14, the Federal Communications Commission voted to abolish network neutrality regulations. The same day, California State Senator Scott Wiener (D-CA-11) released a video saying that he wanted to revive those policies in state law. Now his bill, SB822, hits the California legislature, with co-sponsors – all of whom are Democrats – in the Senate and Assembly. If the legislation passes, and allies in states like New York and New Jersey also introduce bills, a huge chunk of the US population and economy would be subject to regulations that the federal government adamantly opposes. They would join Washington State, whose governor signed a tough net neutrality law on March 5.

This is California’s second net neutrality bill of 2018. A shorter one passed the state senate at the end of January and will move to the Assembly in late spring. But its sponsor, CA Senate President Kevin de Leon, will be gone by then as he mounts a campaign for the US Senate. While Washington State’s law runs about 4 pages, State Sen Wiener’s proposal runs 11 (though with a lot of repetition). It includes the big-three prohibitions: against blocking and slowing down traffic for consumers, or providing extra bandwidth if content providers pay extra.