Internet Service Providers fear wave of state laws after New York’s $15 broadband mandate

New York's law requiring Internet service providers to offer broadband for $15 or $20 a month has spurred legislative efforts in other states to guarantee affordable service for people with low incomes. So far, legislators in Vermont, Massachusetts, and California have proposed laws inspired by the New York requirement. Despite industry attempts to block the New York law and other broadband regulations, courts have made it clear that states can impose stricter requirements on Internet service when the Federal Communications Commission isn't regulating Internet providers as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act. Internet service providers and their lobby groups opposed every FCC attempt to regulate broadband as a common carrier service but also argue there shouldn't be a "patchwork" of state laws regulating broadband. They urged the Supreme Court to strike down New York's law, saying that "other States are likely to copy New York once the Attorney General begins enforcing the ABA [Affordable Broadband Act] and New York consumers can buy broadband at below-market rates."