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Proposed Net Neutrality Bill Passed By Legislature, Heads To Brown’s Desk

Gov. Brown was sent a net neutrality bill Friday that would ensure all California broadband customers have equal access to content on the internet.


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The Republican-led Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington D.C. voted in December 2017 to overturn net neutrality protections, despite rejections from a number of tech companies, state officials and advocacy groups.

Ajit Pai, the FCC chairman appointed by President Donald Trump, called the new rules proposed by his department — which overturned a number of Obama-era policies — a way to stop the federal government from “micromanaging the internet.”

However, critics of the FCC chairman and the commission’s decision have voiced concerns that the repeal could give internet providers too much control over how online content is delivered. It may also make it harder for the next generation of online services to compete if they have to pay up to be placed in a so-called internet fast lane.

However, Friday’s state bill, entitled Senate Bill 822, moves starkly against the ruling by the FCC, prohibiting internet providers from blocking, slowing down or speeding up content from certain sites or apps.

“When Donald Trump’s FCC decided to take a wrecking ball to net neutrality protections, we knew that California had to step in to ensure our residents have access to a free and open internet,” California State Senator Scott Wiener, a Democrat who sponsored the bill, said in a statement. “We hope that other states can look to this legislation as a model for net neutrality standards.”

For example, under the current FCC rules, internet service providers would be able to slow or block access to sites, such as Netflix, in favor of their own streaming services. But, under the proposed bill for California, providers cannot charge companies fees for a better connection, or allow zero rating — when a provider doesn’t count certain content against a plan’s data cap, CNN reports.

Senator Henry Stern, D-Canoga Park; Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale; and Assemblyman Dante Acosta, R-Santa Clarita, voted in favor of SB 822. Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, voted against it.

It will now head to Governor Brown, who has until September 30 to veto the legislation or sign it into law.

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Proposed Net Neutrality Bill Passed By Legislature, Heads To Brown’s Desk

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About Caleb Lunetta

Caleb has been a Santa Clarita resident for most of his life. After attending Hart High School, Caleb went on to study political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara along with College of the Canyons.