Wednesday, May 30, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Consumers Union, the advocacy division of Consumer Reports, today applauded the California Senate for passing what would be the country’s most comprehensive bill to restore net neutrality rules (SB 822). The legislation, authored by Sen. Scott Wiener, would reinstate the protections repealed by the Federal Communications Commission, including preventing internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking, slowing down or speeding up websites, apps, and classes of apps, charging websites for access to the ISPs’ customers or for prioritized access to those customers, and circumventing net neutrality rules through interconnection practices.
Jonathan Schwantes, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union said, “When the FCC chose to ignore the millions of consumers who urged them not to repeal net neutrality protections, it left a void that state lawmakers are now rightly filling. This legislation would set an important precedent and send a strong message to internet providers looking to do business in the nation’s largest market that net neutrality is here to stay. We applaud the lawmakers who, despite a fierce lobbying push by the internet service providers, continued to support this legislation and rejected industry-backed amendments that would have gutted the consumer protections in the bill. By standing up to support SB 822, California lawmakers can send a powerful message to the nation’s capital and the country as a whole — not only that restoring net neutrality is the future, but also that listening to your constituents is of the utmost importance. We urge the Assembly to follow the Senate’s leadership and pass this important legislation to restore net neutrality rules in California.”