Senator Wiener’s Net Neutrality Bill Passes the California State Assembly and Moves to the Senate for A Final Vote

August 30, 2018

Sacramento–  Today, Senate Bill 822, which enacts the strongest net neutrality protections in the country, passed out of the Assembly with a 61-18 vote. SB 822 now heads back to the Senate for a concurrence vote, and if passed will go to the Governor for his signature. SB 822 is authored by Senators Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Kevin de León (D- Los Angeles).

“Today’s vote is a huge win for Californians everywhere,” said Senator Wiener. “The internet is at the heart of 21st century life - our economy, our public safety and health systems, our democracy - and we must protect it. The core premise of net neutrality is that we get to decide where we go on the internet, as opposed to telecom and cable companies telling us where to go. We have just one final vote left to go to get the strongest net neutrality protections in the nation passed out of the Legislature and onto the Governor’s desk. We will take nothing for granted, but we have momentum and the support of a broad and diverse coalition that understands the importance of a free and open internet for everyone. I want to thank all my colleagues for supporting and working with us on this vital piece of legislation.”

"When Washington, D.C. abandons its obligation to protect American consumers from predatory special interests, California must step up and do D.C.’s job,” said Senator de León.  "Net neutrality is critical to safeguarding the integrity of our democracy, which is why we are committed to making sure that every single Californian has equal access to the information and resources on the internet.  I’m proud to stand with Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, united behind the strongest net neutrality bill in the nation."

“Today, we advanced the strongest net neutrality legislation in the nation,” said Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles). “SB 822 is a crucial step towards ensuring that we have a free and open internet that doesn’t discriminate or price users or content differently. This is a big win in our people-powered movement against the Trump Administration’s destruction of the internet.”

“Whether applying for a job, accessing healthcare, or running a small business, the internet is an indispensable element of modern life,” said Assemblymember Bonta (D-Alameda). “Today’s vote on SB 822 brings California ever closer to reinstating Net Neutrality. All Californians deserve a free and open Internet in which no one is throttled or blocked from the digital connections that are critical to their lives and livelihoods.”

SB 822 prohibits blocking websites, speeding up or slowing down websites or whole classes of applications such as video. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will also be prohibited from circumventing these protections at the point where data enters their networks and from charging access fees to reach ISP customers. SB 822 will also ban ISPs from violating net neutrality by not counting the content and websites they own against subscribers’ data caps. This kind of abusive and anti-competitive “zero rating,” which leads to lower data caps for everyone, would be prohibited, while “zero-rating” plans that don’t harm consumers are allowed.

SB 822 is supported by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, former Obama FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, and a broad coalition of state leaders, public interest groups, labor organizations, social justice advocates, small businesses, start-ups, internet service providers, California mayors and local governments, and tens of thousands of California residents.

Senator Wiener and Senator de Leon are joint authors of SB 822, and Assemblymembers Santiago and Bonta are co-authors. SB 822 is also co-authored by Senators Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), Bill Dodd (D-Napa), Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), Connie Leyva (D-Chino), Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), Bill Monning (D-Carmel) and Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), and Assemblymembers Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside), David Chiu (D-San Francisco), Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), Monique Limon (D-Santa Barbara), Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), Kevin Mullin (D-South San Francisco), Adrin Nazarian (D- North Hollywood), Mark Stone (D-Monterey Bay), Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), and Jim Wood (D- Santa Rosa).

SB 822 Bill text: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB822