Net Neutrality 'Vital' To Protect The Public, California Tells Appeals Court

California is urging a federal appeals court to leave in place a state net neutrality law that broadly prohibits broadband carriers from blocking or throttling traffic and from charging higher fees for prioritized delivery. “Congress has not established a federal regulatory regime that bars the states from taking steps to safeguard access to something as essential as the Internet,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta argues in papers filed with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. “The California legislature determined that net neutrality is vital to protecting public health, safety, and welfare in the state,” AG Bonta adds. “Nothing in federal law prevents California from exercising its traditional police powers in this manner.”

Broadband providers are seeking to block California's law argue that internet access is “inherently interstate,” and therefore not subject to state laws. The broadband industry also argues California's law conflicts with the FCC's decision to deregulate the internet by revoking the Obama-era rules. But California's attorney general counters that the Federal Communications Commission's 2018 deregulatory move effectively stripped the agency of authority over internet access. When the FCC revoked the Obama-era rules, the agency reclassified broadband access as an “information” service -- and information services aren't subject to the same kinds of common-carrier regulation as utility services. California's law “does not conflict with the 2018 Order, which was premised on the FCC’s lack of authority to promulgate federal net neutrality conduct rules,” the state argues. “Because the FCC lacks this authority, it cannot prevent the states from enacting their own net neutrality requirements,” California's attorney general writes. “In the absence of statutory authority, it is irrelevant that the FCC’s reclassification and repeal decisions were motivated in part by its preference for deregulation.”