Seeking to rescue net neutrality, a California lawmaker on Wednesday introduced a consumer protection bill that would bar internet providers from slowing or throttling internet access in the Golden State.
State Sen. Scott Wiener’s proposal is a direct response to the Federal Communications Commission’s controversial decision in December to stash net-neutrality rules. Critics, including Wiener and a host of consumer protection groups, argue the FCC has set the table for providers to pander to websites willing to pay for quicker access.
Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced the bill on the first day of the legislative session and took a shot at President Donald Trump.
“Net neutrality is essential to our 21st-century democracy,” Wiener said in a statement. “We won’t let the Trump-led FCC dismantle our right to a free and open internet, and we won’t let them create a system where internet providers can favor websites and services based on who pays more money.”
Under the legislation, the California Public Utilities Commission would be the watchdog agency over providers like Comcast and AT&T, tasked with enforcing new net neutrality laws. Net neutrality would be required for cable franchise agreements, new state contracts and access to state-owned utility poles.
The FCC’s 3-2 to vote to kill net neutrality led to a bipartisan uproar and a flood of new legislation.
New York and Washington state have proposed bills to ban providers from offering specialized services to website operators in a practice known as throttling or fast lanes. New York’s version was proposed by a Democrat, Washington state’s by a Republican.
If the states’ measures are eventually passed, they will likely be challenged by the federal government. The abolition order reiterates the FCC’s stance that its laws pre-empt state communications laws.
“We therefore pre-empt any state or local measures that would effectively impose rules or requirements that we have repealed or decided to refrain from imposing in this order or that would impose more stringent requirements for any aspect of broadband service,” the FCC order states.
Wiener counters that while states have long deferred to federal neutrality rules, the FCC’s pre-emption provision isn’t bulletproof. He points to a 2016 Sixth Circuit ruling that upheld Tennessee and North Carolina’s right to regulate and restrict expansion by municipal telecommunications providers as precedent.
First Amendment groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union back Wiener’s net neutrality effort.
“The FCC’s complete abandonment of its responsibilities to protect the free and open internet will go down as one of the biggest mistakes in internet policy history,” said Ernesto Falcon, Electronic Frontier Foundation legislative counsel. “In light of the complete absence of federal protections, we absolutely must have state laws fill the void on both privacy and network neutrality.”
As of Wednesday, 10 state lawmakers have requested to be co-authors of the proposal.
Wiener, a first-term state senator, says that along with net neutrality, he will pursue a package of housing bills this year that call for the expansion of farmworker housing and new housing near public transportation centers. He will also continue work on LGBT issues and renewable energy proposals.
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Good for him, he’s exactly right! Many people don’t realize how important the decision is to remove “net neutrality” or what it means, but when asked if they want Comcast, AT&T, Charter and any other internet company from killing competition, they agree that would be bad, to give them even more power over consumers:
this is a good description:
“…introduced a consumer protection bill that would bar internet providers from slowing or throttling internet access in the Golden State.”
Internet providers already have monopolies for service, now they can control which co’s and websites go slow or fast on their networks: that’s like giving special fast lane permits to certain preferred co’s and forcing others to use the slow lane with trucks and buses, while they pocket all the profit and keep hiking the prices we pay them.
Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, has sponsored a new bill that would prohibit the use of federal funds to pay for California’s high-speed rail project, a section of which could run along Highway 14 in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Santa Clarita City Council members are set to discuss in a closed session Tuesday their ongoing legal battle with property owner Canyon View Limited over the 2.5 acres of solar panels on a Canyon Country hillside.
Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, has sponsored a new bill that would prohibit the use of federal funds to pay for California’s high-speed rail project, a section of which could run along Highway 14 in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Santa Clarita City Council members are set to discuss in a closed session Tuesday their ongoing legal battle with property owner Canyon View Limited over the 2.5 acres of solar panels on a Canyon Country hillside.
College of the Canyons proudly welcomes composer/lyricist, conductor, pianist and music producer Georgia Stitt to the School of Visual & Performing Arts’ Virtual Industry Insight Series on Wednesday, March 10.
Valencia-based Lundgren Management was honored to be selected by the El Camino Community College District as one of three firms providing on-going construction management services for the next five years.
It’s not how far you go…it’s what happens along the way! The Incredible Chase, the city of Santa Clarita’s socially distanced take on the hit CBS show “The Amazing Race,” is a brand-new competition taking place in May 2021.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Thursday 119 new deaths and 2,253 new cases of COVID-19, with 26,327 total cases in the Santa Clarita Valley.
For a three-day period starting Tuesday, the William S. Hart Union High School District football players took their first COVID-19 tests as part of the requirements for them to begin full-contact play.
Ken Farley, W. M. Keck Foundation professor of Geochemistry, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences and the project scientist for the Mars 2020 mission, continues the 2020–2021 Watson Lecture season with a talk about, “Perseverance on Mars," Wednesday, March 10, at 5:00 p.m., via Zoom.
Los Angeles County Library is partnering with Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to bring virtual arts programs to our communities, featuring LACMA teaching artists and staff.
Santa Clarita LLC, which owns the undeveloped 900-plus-acre Whittaker-Bermite site, recently filed for voluntary bankruptcy, and is working to sell it to a global industrial real estate company for possible commercial and residential development, officials said Wednesday.
William S. Hart Union High School District governing board members Wednesday discussed a potential March 29 start date for junior high and high school in-person instruction, provided the number of L.A. County COVID-19 cases continues to decline.
The Santa Clarita Valley is now home to a new branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, following a recent vote from the association’s board of directors.
Because of the recent rainfall, Los Angeles County Health Officer, Muntu Davis, MD, MPH, is cautioning residents that bacteria, chemicals, debris, trash, and other public health hazards from city streets and mountain areas are likely to contaminate ocean waters at and around discharging storm drains, creeks, and rivers after a rainfall.
This week, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced the kickoff for the “California Digital Divide Innovation Challenge,” a global competition that will award up to $1 million to the boldest, most revolutionary proposals to eliminate the digital divide and expand high-speed internet access to all Californians.
Los Angeles County Public Health officials on Wednesday confirmed 116 new deaths and 1,759 new cases of COVID-19 countywide, as Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia reported its 144th fatality since the pandemic began.
Rancho Camulos National Historic Landmark officials will host a virtual presentation commemorating the March 12, 1928, St. Francis Dam Disaster via Zoom on Friday, March 12, starting at 4 p.m.
Princess Cruises is extending the pause of its United Kingdom-based cruise vacations, sailing roundtrip from Southampton, through September 25, 2021, on Sky Princess, Regal Princess, and Island Princess.
After a relatively dry February in California, water supply managers grow increasingly anxious as each dry, sunny day plunges the state deeper into drought.
The Biden-Harris Administration has approved California’s request to use Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) funding to pay for voluntary COVID-19 testing for low-income students covered by the program, further supporting schools in underserved communities to reopen for in-person instruction.
Santa Clarita planning commissioners Tuesday sent the Sand Canyon resort proposal back to the drawing board amid continued concerns, focusing largely on emergency evacuations.
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REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
2 Comments
Good for him, he’s exactly right! Many people don’t realize how important the decision is to remove “net neutrality” or what it means, but when asked if they want Comcast, AT&T, Charter and any other internet company from killing competition, they agree that would be bad, to give them even more power over consumers:
this is a good description:
“…introduced a consumer protection bill that would bar internet providers from slowing or throttling internet access in the Golden State.”
Internet providers already have monopolies for service, now they can control which co’s and websites go slow or fast on their networks: that’s like giving special fast lane permits to certain preferred co’s and forcing others to use the slow lane with trucks and buses, while they pocket all the profit and keep hiking the prices we pay them.
We don’t HAVE a “democracy”, Wiener, you idiot.