California's Net Neutrality bill is soon to become law

Net Neutrality has been one of the hottest issues of all time in American politics, even during the Obama era. (Source: The Verge)

After a highly public campaign to pass the bill SB822, which will serve as a replacement for the FCC's Net Neutrality rules, the legislative branch of California has approved the bill. Assuming the Democratic Governor Jerry Brown signs the SB822, California will be yet another state that has its own Net Neutrality laws.

Matthew Connatser, Published 09/02/2018

Business Cyberlaw

After the FCC repealed its own rules on Net Neutrality, several states began to work on state wide rules to guarantee the rights the FCC previously protected. To date, 6 states have filed executive orders and 4 states (including California, assuming the governor signs it) have approved laws based on Net Neutrality. While many bills for Net Neutrality have failed, several more have the chance to become actual law, especially in blue states, where Democrats support Net Neutrality.

California's newest law is the latest of these attempts, and should it be signed, it will be the fourth state to guarantee Net Neutrality at a state level. According to the Verge, SB822 (the California bill) has the most comprehensive take on Net Neutrality. Since California has one of the largest economies in the entire world, ISPs may decide to comply with California's state laws all across the nation for the sake of simplicity.

While the FCC is prepared to challenge these state laws after passing a rule stating that states could not regulate broadband on Net Neutrality grounds, no such case has been prosecuted yet, and if such a case were to be brought to court, the FCC would be at a disadvantage since it has lost cases on the basis of state rights. Furthermore, attorneys argue that the FCC has no right to regulate states in regard to policy on Net Neutrality when it nullified Net Neutrality on a federal level.

This bill comes after similar laws were passed in Oregon and Washington; more recently, the state of New York has demanded that Spectrum leave the state entirely and ensure that its existing subscribers will have new ISP options and an uninterrupted experience from now to when Spectrum leaves. The FCC's repeal of Net Neutrality protections has unleashed a flood of new regulations for ISPs to follow, and it doesn't appear it's going to get any better for ISPs, and perhaps consumers if ISPs in California can't deal with the new regulations and if Spectrum in New York can't work out a deal with the state.