Pai Calls California Net Neutrality Bill Illegal; State Senator Rejects 'Potshots'
California and other state net neutrality efforts are illegal, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a Friday speech at the Maine Policy Heritage Center. “Last month, the California state legislature passed a radical, anti-consumer Internet regulation bill that would impose…
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restrictions even more burdensome than those adopted by the FCC in 2015,” including restrictions on zero rating, said Pai, per prepared remarks. “The broader problem is that California’s micromanagement poses a risk to the rest of the country,” he said. “Broadband is an interstate service; Internet traffic doesn’t recognize state lines. It follows that only the federal government can set regulatory policy in this area. For if individual states like California regulate the Internet, this will directly impact citizens in other states.” The recent 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision on state regulation of VoIP (see 1809070030) reaffirmed that federal law pre-empts state regulation of information services like broadband, Pai added. The California bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Scott Wiener (D), rejected Pai “potshots” in a Friday statement. “Unlike Pai’s FCC, California isn’t run by the big telecom and cable companies,” Wiener said. The California bill “is necessary and legal because Chairman Pai abdicated his responsibility to ensure an open internet. Since the FCC says it no longer has any authority to protect an open internet, it’s also the case that the FCC lacks the legal power to preempt states from protecting their residents and economy.”