ISP Privacy, Net Neutrality Bills March Forward in States
State legislators advanced bills challenging national policy reversals on ISP privacy and net neutrality. A Maine legislative panel Tuesday cleared LD-946 prohibiting state broadband providers from using, sharing or selling access to state customer data without expressed consent. Rhode Island senators that day passed SB-40 to limit state contracts to ISPs that follow net neutrality principles.
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Maine’s joint Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology voted 8-1 on a bipartisan basis for the ISP privacy bill by Sen. Shenna Bellows (D) despite a Republican’s objections. It goes next to the Senate floor, a committee spokesperson said. National industry associations and a local ISP split on LD-946, which got support from public interest advocate Gigi Sohn, at the committee’s hearing last week (see 1904240061).
“This bill is too narrow because it only attacks … the doorway that you step through and not the internet universe you go into,” said Sen. Jeffrey Hanley (R) at the livestreamed meeting. It should cover more than ISPs, he said. “Rather than make bad law today, I would rather study this for a few months.” Customers should be able to voluntarily sell their information for a price or discount, he said. Hanley worries about creating a state patchwork in which Maine is an outlier. He likes protecting privacy but doesn’t want to make flawed “feel-good law.”
Asking for more study is “a delaying tactic,” and LD-946 is drafted narrowly “to meet constitutional muster,” replied Bellows. She would be glad to cover edge providers in a separate privacy bill but the former American Civil Liberties Union official cautioned such an effort in Maine could face an “uphill slog with the Constitution.” Bellows wouldn’t oppose allowing customers to sell data if it doesn’t mean customers pay a premium to protect their privacy. Striking that balance is hard without “some pretty clear guardrails,” said Chairman Seth Berry (D). “You can call it a discount or you can call it a premium, but at the end of the day, it amounts to the same thing.”
The Rhode Island Senate voted 31-3 to send the state net neutrality bill to the House. It’s the “exact same bill” the Senate passed last year, based on the 2018 executive order by Gov. Gina Raimondo (D), said SB-40 sponsor Sen. Louis DiPalma (D) on the floor. Democrats have a political trifecta in Rhode Island, but last year’s bill stalled in the House.
A Minnesota House-Senate conference must soon decide if net neutrality procurement language should be in a budget bill, said Michael Mollner, legislative assistant to HF-2208 sponsor Rep. Tim Mahoney (D). The conference process typically takes a week and half, then the bill would go to Gov. Tim Walz (D), Mollner told us Tuesday. The Democratic-run House last week voted 74-49 for the bill with a section limiting state agencies and political subdivisions from contracting with a broadband provider that doesn’t adhere to open-internet rules (see 1904240051). The GOP-controlled Senate voted 40-26 Monday to clear its version without net neutrality rules.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) has until June 3 at 11:59 p.m. to sign a net neutrality bill and other legislation passed this session. If enacted, SB-78 would restrict high-cost support or other state broadband funding to companies that adhere to open internet principles, and require government entities give preference in procurements to ISPs that follow rules (see 1904080051). If Polis doesn’t sign or veto the bill by deadline, it becomes law automatically.
Hawaii’s net neutrality bill failed even though Democrats have a political trifecta there. The Senate unanimously passed SB-253 but it “stalled in the State House because it didn’t get a hearing in the Interstate Commerce Committee,” emailed sponsor Sen. Mike Gabbard (D). The session ends in May, so it “won’t be considered until next session,” he said.