Meet the California Legislator Who Introduced the State’s $15 Internet Bill

“A good friend of mine… calls this ‘the single mom with two kids bill,’” said California Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, about the $15 internet bill she introduced in March 2025. “I always think about the single mom working two jobs — and her kids still have to get online and upload their homework to Google Classroom,” said Rep Boerner. Rep Boerner, whose district extends along the coastline of southern California between San Diego and Carlsbad, serves as chair of the state’s Committee on Communications and Conveyance. The committee’s purview includes broadband, telecommunications, and several other areas. As committee chair, Rep Boerner said she closely followed the progress of the federal Affordable Connectivity Program, which ended in the middle of 2024. In direct response—and on behalf of all Californians, not just the people in her district—Rep Boerner introduced Assembly Bill 353, an affordable internet bill, to the California Assembly. “We’d all prefer that the ACP was back, and I wouldn’t have to legislate this in California,” Boerner said, “but we have to meet that need.”