ALBANY — State senators from New York and California are working on a bi-coastal bill to address last week’s repeal of the net neutrality rules by the Federal Communications Commission, the Daily News has learned.
Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) and California Sen. Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) say the repeal of the regulations barring internet service providers from blocking or slowing web traffic will hit their states particularly hard.
“It is important because both California and New York have a lot of consumers and we have a lot of tech companies,” said Hoylman, whose district includes New York City offices for Google, Facebook and Twitter.
Hoylman and Weiner are writing legislation that they expect to introduce in January to establish for the first time net neutrality regulations in New York and California.
Net neutrality is “essential to our 21st century democracy, and we need to be sure that people can access websites and information freely and fairly,” Weiner said.
“States like California and New York must step in and ensure open internet access for their citizens.”
One big issue to overcome is federal preemption. Since the internet is available across the nation, it would be difficult for one or two states to impose its own regulations on the industry.
Tim Wu, a Columbia Law professor credited with coining the term “net neutrality,” said he expects a legal fight from the feds if the bills are passed, but believes the states could overcome this obstacle.
“There’s no straightforward answer,” Wu said.
The FCC will say it has jurisdiction but New York is on strong ground arguing it has the right to protect its consumers and tech companies to ensure they can reach the entire internet, he said. Wu noted that California enacted tougher car emission standards than are set by the federal government, meaning automakers can either make a vehicle nationally that meets their tougher regs or do it differently just in that state.
New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced almost immediately after the FCC vote to repeal federal net neutrality rules that he would sue to block the action.
Congressional Democrats also have talked about federal legislative efforts to restore net neutrality.
Julie Samuels, executive director of Tech:NYC, which represents the city’s high tech industry, called the FCC vote “a tremendous blow to the internet we rely on to connect our world and grow our economy.”
“The end of net neutrality will harm creativity and competition and hurt New York’s startups and small businesses. We must and will continue to fight for a free and open internet,” Samuels said.
Net neutrality was established in 2015 by the FCC under then-President Barack Obama.
Hoylman and Weiner previously worked together on a bill that would require presidential candidates who wanted to appear on the California and New York ballots to divulge their taxes. The bill, developed after President Trump broke tradition by refusing to make his taxes public during the 2016 election, passed the California state Legislature, but was vetoed in September by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The bill did not pass in New York.
