California net neutrality bill advances to Assembly

California took a step closer to enacting what has been called the strongest net neutrality bill in the nation Wednesday, with a final committee voting to send SB 822 to the full Assembly.

The Assembly must vote on the bill by the end of August. It was passed by the state Senate in May.

The bill has had a dramatic ride so far. It was previously gutted by the same committee that voted 9 to 3 to pass it Wednesday. In June, the head of the Communications and Conveyance Committee, Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, rushed through a vote on a weakened version. At the time, Santiago was accused of yielding to internet service providers’ interests, but he later said he and Wiener simply “ran out of time” during negotiations.

SB 822’s author, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, worked with Santiago and others to restore consumer protections in the bill, which seeks to fill a hole left by the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of the Obamaera federal rules. Those rules upheld net neutrality, or the principle that all internet traffic should be treated equally.

States and activists this week asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overrule the FCC decision, and the FCC faces other legal challenges over the repeal. In the meantime, states are trying to come up with their own solutions to impose rules that aim to keep internet service providers from blocking or slowing internet traffic or giving preferential treatment to certain traffic. Three other states — Oregon, Vermont and Washington — have enacted their own rules so far, and legislation is pending in at least a couple of other states.

Sen. Wiener’s bill, supported by former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, California State Attorney General Xavier Becerra, advocacy groups and others — including a few dozen individuals and activists who showed up in Sacramento to voice their support Wednesday — is opposed by broadband providers such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, chambers of commerce and others.

Wiener also noted that midsize technology companies sent a letter of support for the bill recently, “telling us that without net neutrality protections, they would be undermined.”

SB 822 would ban blocking and throttling of internet traffic, and unreasonable zero rating. Zero rating is the practice of exempting certain traffic from internet users’ data caps.

Representatives of ISPs complained that the bill would have negative effects on California. For example, they warned of possible litigation, but Wiener said he believed the bill could withstand legal challenges.

They also opposed the zero-rating provision, saying it harms low-income Californians. Wiener countered that zero rating could cost consumers more in the long run, saying it could lead to “the cable-ization of the internet,” in which users would only go to certain websites and services online.

Activists weighed in after the vote.

“AT&T may have an army of lobbyists on its side, but Californians are firmly on the side of protecting the free and open internet,” said CREDO Campaign Manager Brandy Doyle.

SB 460, a companion bill by Sen. Kevin de Léon, DLos Angeles, also passed the committee in a 9-3 vote. It requires businesses that enter into contracts with the state to adhere to net neutrality rules. It now heads to the Privacy Committee.