Tough Court Scrutiny Seen for Proposed Net Neutrality Law in California
California net neutrality legislation may not survive the courts even if Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs it, Tellus Venture Associates President Steve Blum blogged Thursday. “The FCC explicitly preempted any state level action that would go against last month’s decision…
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and even if it hadn’t, it blew away the legal basis for net neutrality rules -- state or federal -- when it declared that broadband is not a common carrier service,” said Blum, a telecom consultant for California local governments. California state senators proposed two net neutrality bills this week, SB-460 and SB-822, and other Democratic state lawmakers are doing similarly (see 1801030023 and 1712210034). SB-822 is more targeted, and its “state purchasing power and consumer protection provisions would probably survive a court challenge,” Blum told us. “But getting it passed will be as difficult. Aiming it at cable franchises and pole attachments is a suicide ride -- lobbyists will kill it long before it sees the light of day.”