A little over a week ago, the country’s strongest state-level net neutrality protections legislation passed through on a big hurdle, when California’s Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee voted to move the bill onto the next committee. On Tuesday, in a 5-2 vote along party lines, the California Senate Judiciary committee voted the bill one step closer to passage.
“California can—and must—step up to re-establish the Obama-era net neutrality rules to protect consumers and our democracy," bill sponsor Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said in an announcement.
The bill would replicate the US-wide bans on blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization that were implemented by the FCC in 2015, and it would go beyond the FCC rules with a ban on paid data-cap exemptions. The FCC voted to repeal its rules in December, although the commission hasn't finalized the repeal yet.
Please note, that in both cases Republicans voted against the state net neutrality law. In total, it took 13 Democrats to thwart the 5 Republicans who want that sweet telecom money. According to Arstechnica, the next steps for the bill will be a vote in the state Senate after moving through the Senate Appropriations Committee. The importance of this moment in the bill’s life it that it is no longer subject to Senate policy committees that are frequent graveyards for more progressive legislative proposals.