Representative Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, has encouraged the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to avoid enforcing a section of California’s net neutrality law to allow telehealth services for veterans to continue.

Garcia, along with 19 other Republican lawmakers, sent a letter to CPUC on Tuesday asking the organization to not enforce the California Net Neutrality law’s ban on “zero-rating,” which prevents mobile carriers from waiving data fees for select online services.

“Telecom companies have waived data consumption for VA’s Video Connect, which is a lifeline for many vets, but CA’s Net Neutrality laws threaten this lifeline,” Garcia said. 

Telecom companies have waived data consumption for VA's Video Connect, which is a lifeline for many vets, but CA's Net Neutrality laws threaten this lifeline.

I sent a letter to CPUC urging that they protect CA veterans' access to VA's telehealth services. @HouseVetAffairs

— Rep. Mike Garcia (@RepMikeGarcia) April 8, 2021

The ban would keep mobile carriers from waiving data fees for certain select services chosen by the companies. 

This was designed to prevent carriers from waiving data fees on specific services in order to give people an incentive to sign up for those services instead of their competitors. 

For example, mobile carriers would not be allowed to waive data fees on a specific streaming service to give it a competitive advantage over other streaming services that they may still charge data fees for. 

Indirectly, the zero-rating ban has prevented providers from waiving data fees for the use of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Video Connect, a telehealth service for veterans, according to lawmakers.

“Telehealth is an increasingly vital part of any health care delivery system, and we should expect its usage to continue to increase and plan accordingly,” wrote Garcia and the 19 other lawmakers in their letter to CPUC. “We should be thoughtful about imposing burdensome laws that inhibit its growth.” 

However, supporters of the net neutrality law say carriers would be allowed to waive fees for the service if they waived fees for all other video call services, like Zoom and Skype, in addition to VA Video Connect.

Garcia and his colleagues are asking CPUC to either refrain from holding mobile carriers to the zero-rating law, or, if they do not have the authority to refrain, to suggest changes to the net neutrality law to the California State Legislature that would specifically allow telehealth services to continue at no additional charge.  

“We may disagree on the adverse impacts net neutrality laws have on consumers, but we should be able to agree that this aspect of the law must be reexamined,” concluded Garcia and the other lawmakers. 

To read the full letter, click here. 

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