Key facts
- California is set to accept $1.86 billion in federal broadband grant funds.
- The Trump administration requires states to waive net neutrality rules for ISPs receiving BEAD funding.
- California's net neutrality law prohibits ISPs from blocking or throttling lawful traffic and charging websites for prioritized delivery.
- The exemption from state laws and rules would apply for up to 14 years.
- Advocacy groups urged California leaders to defend the state's net neutrality law.
- California plans to spend about $1.4 billion to deploy broadband to 270,571 locations.
California is on the verge of accepting $1.86 billion in federal broadband grant funds, but this comes with a condition from the Trump administration that states must not enforce net neutrality rules on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that receive the funding. The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a $42 billion initiative, requires states to exempt ISPs from net neutrality and rate regulations statewide for up to 14 years.
California has a state net neutrality law that prohibits ISPs from blocking or throttling lawful internet traffic and from charging websites for prioritized delivery. The state won a legal battle to defend this law during the first Trump administration, but the current administration is using federal funding as leverage to achieve a similar outcome.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is scheduled to vote on a resolution to ratify the state's final BEAD plan. Advocacy groups have urged the state to reject the federal terms, arguing that accepting them would set a dangerous precedent for the federal government to use funding to impose its agenda on states and would undermine hard-won protections for internet access.
Paul Goodman, legal counsel for the Center for Accessible Technology, stated that the CPUC vote is more than procedural and that accepting the money would make future legal battles over net neutrality much more difficult. He also noted that the exemption could impact other regulatory authority over companies like AT&T and Verizon, potentially jeopardizing low-income broadband programs.