States will be the battlegrounds for 2020 tech policy fights

The tech industry's most consequential policy fights in 2020 will play out in the states, not Washington (DC). Momentum on a range of tech issues, from governing online privacy to regulating the gig economy, has stalled in DC as impeachment and election campaigns consume attention. State leaders and legislators are stepping in to fill the void. For example, California and Vermont are facing litigation over their attempts to impose their own net neutrality regulations after the Federal Communications Commission repealed the Obama-era open-internet rules. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) said he intends to advance statewide net neutrality legislation. State-by-state policy battles will be headaches for all the companies involved. It's expensive to distribute lobbyists in state capitol buildings across the country and deal with localized politics and varying legislative processes. States will be the focus of corporate lobbying while Washington is distracted.