FCC preempted state-led action, but that isn’t stopping handful of states
In the aftermath of the U.S. Federal Communication Commission’s controversial repeal of Obama-era net neutrality protections, state-level politicians are taking up the cause of a free and open internet.
According to publish reports, officials in California, Washington, New York, Rhode Island, Nebraska and Massachusetts have begun consideration of rules that mirror what the Republican majority FCC repealed last month.
San Francisco Democrat Scott Weiner is among those leading the charge in California. In a Jan. 3 statement he called net neutrality “essential to our 21st century democracy. 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 web sites and services based on who pays more money. It’s terrible for consumers, for small businesses, for innovation, and for the free flow of information in our country.”
There is a problem with this state-level approach. In its decision, the FCC ensured state politicians can’t do exactly what they’re attempting.
From the applicable part of the FCC’s final order: “We conclude that regulation of broadband internet access service should be governed principally by a uniform set of federal regulations, rather than by a patchwork that includes separate state and local requirements…Allowing state and local governments to adopt their own separate requirements, which could impose far greater burdens than the federal regulatory regime, could significantly disrupt the balance we strike here…We therefore preempt any state or local measures that would effectively impose rules or requirements that we have repealed or decided to refrain from imposing in this order or that would impose more stringent requirements for any aspect of broadband service that we address in this order.”
Stay tuned.
