Senator Wiener’s Statement on Next Steps for California Net Neutrality Bill
Sacramento – Today Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) released the following statement about the next steps for Senate Bill 822, his bill to restore Obama-era net neutrality protections in California. The bill is scheduled for a hearing in the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee today. Last week, the Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee made amendments that gutted key provisions of SB 822 over Senator Wiener’s objections:
“Today, SB 822 - which we wrote to protect net neutrality in California - will be heard in the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee. Last week, the bill was gutted by the Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee. The bill, in its current form, no longer protects net neutrality and is not worth passing. However, I am working with the Chair of the Communications Committee, Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, to restore the protections that the committee removed.
Today I am asking the Privacy Committee to simply pass SB 822 out of committee as is (i.e., in its inadequate form), so that we can continue working on the bill. To be clear, if the bill ultimately remains in its current form, I will withdraw it, as I have no desire to pass a fake net neutrality bill. But my sincere hope is that we will be able to amend it in the near future back into a strong form. For today’s hearing, I simply want the current version to move forward in order to continue working on it.”
If passed by the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee today, the bill will then move to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which has until August 17th to pass the bill. The full Assembly must pass the bill by August 31st.
The Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee meets today at 1:30pm in Room 126 of the California State Capitol.