The State of State Preemption: Stalled—But Moving In More Competitive Directio

As the federal government makes unprecedented investments to expand high-speed access to the Internet, unbeknownst to most outside the broadband industry is that nearly a third of the states in the U.S. have preemption laws in place that either prevent or restrict local municipalities from building and operating publicly-owned, locally-controlled networks. Currently, there are 16 states across the U.S. with these monopoly-protecting, anti-competition preemption laws in place. These states maintain these laws, despite the fact that wherever municipal broadband networks or other forms of community-owned networks operate, the service they deliver residents and businesses almost always offers faster connection speeds, more reliable service, and lower prices. Nevertheless, these preemption laws remain in 16 states, enacted at the behest of Big Cable and telecommunications lobbyists, many of whom have ghost written the statutes, in an effort to protect internet service provider monopolies from competition.