Defying Pai’s FCC, Washington state passes law protecting net neutrality

Washington may be the first state to impose net neutrality rules on all ISPs.

Jon Brodkin – Feb 28, 2018 1:25 pm | 158

Washington State Capitol Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington. Credit: Getty Images | VW Pics

The Washington state legislature has approved a net neutrality law that applies to all wired and wireless Internet providers in the state and prohibits blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization.

The bill comes in response to the Federal Communications Commission decision in December 2017 to scrap federal net neutrality rules. The state bill still needs the signature of Governor Jay Inslee, who previously pledged to enforce net neutrality “under our own authority and under our own laws,” calling it “a free speech issue as well as a business development issue.”

Washington is apparently the first state whose legislature has passed a law that imposes net neutrality rules on all ISPs. The governors of five states had already decided to impose net neutrality restrictions on ISPs that provide Internet service to state agencies.

The Washington bill was approved in the state House on February 9 by a vote of 93-5. The bill passed in the Senate yesterday by a vote of 35-14.

Inslee, a Democrat, celebrated the bill’s passage with this tweet:

This tweet brought to you by #NetNeutrality, and the bill headed to my desk to protect the open internet in Washington state. Glad to see #waleg pass this important legislation.

— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) February 28, 2018

CenturyLink opposed the bill, saying that Internet service should be regulated by the federal government instead of “multiple state jurisdictions,” according to The News Tribune. Of course, net neutrality was regulated by the federal government, but the FCC decided to repeal its rules at the urging of ISPs like CenturyLink.

The FCC’s repeal is still contingent on US Office of Management and Budget [OMB] approval of modified information collection requirements, so the rules will stay on the books a while longer.

States vs. the FCC

Five states—Vermont, Hawaii, Montana, New Jersey, and New York—previously decided to enforce net neutrality via executive orders issued by their governors. But those executive orders apply only to ISPs that provide Internet service to state government agencies, relying on the states’ power as buyers of Internet service rather than on a law imposed on all ISPs.

More than half of US states have pending net neutrality legislation.

“States must act to protect the Internet,” Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, said before the vote in the Washington Senate Tuesday, according to The News Tribune.

Washington is likely to face lawsuits filed by broadband providers, who will argue that the state law is preempted by the FCC repeal of net neutrality rules. The FCC itself said that states are preempted from passing net neutrality rules, but legal experts have mixed opinions on whether that preemption will hold up in court.

The Washington bill (full text) prohibits ISPs from blocking or throttling Internet content and applications except in cases of reasonable network management. The state law prohibits prioritization of third-party content in exchange for payment. Each ISP would also be prohibited from prioritizing Internet content offered by entities affiliated with the ISP.

ISPs will also be required to publicly disclose their network management practices. The rules would be enforced by the state attorney general under Washington’s Consumer Protection Act.