California to Delay State Net Neutrality Law's Enforcement

Last month, California passed a state net neutrality law that's designed to prevent internet service providers from blocking or throttling connection speeds. But on Friday, it decided to hold off on the law's enforcement.

The reason: California wants to avoid an escalating legal battle with the US Department of Justice and telecom lobbying groups, which have both been trying to overturn the newly-signed law in court.

On Friday, California's attorney general agreed to delay enforcing the net neutrality protections, which would have taken effect in January. In return, the Justice Department and the lobbying groups will suspend their lawsuits against the state.

Pending a judge's approval, the agreement will act as a cease-fire. All sides will instead wait on a separate legal battle occuring that asks the bigger question: Was the FCC's vote ending the Obama-era net neutrality protections even legal?

(Photo credit: Brendan Snialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

In August, 22 states, including California, joined a lawsuit in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit that seeks to undo the FCC's order. The states claim the FCC's rollback of the net neutrality protections violates their authority to regulate internet broadband.

The outcome of the case will determine how California goes about protecting the state's net neutrality from legal threats to abolish it. So for now, the state's attorney general has decided to first let the DC Circuit appeals case to proceed.

"Every step we take, every action we launch is intended to put us in the best position to preserve net neutrality for the 40 million people of our state," California's attorney general Xavier Becerra told The Washington Post.

California's net neutrality law was originally introduced by Democratic state senator Scott Weiner, who also supported Friday's move to delay its enforcement. "Of course, I very much want to see California's net neutrality law go into effect immediately," he said in a statement. "Yet, I also understand and support the Attorney General's rationale."

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"After the DC Circuit appeal is resolved, the litigation relating to California's net neutrality law will then move forward," he added.

However, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is spinning the delay as a win for the commission. "This substantial concession reflects the strength of the case made by the United States earlier this month," he said in a statement, referring to the US Justice Department and its lawsuit against California's net neutrality law.

"A patchwork of state laws only introduces uncertainty in the broadband marketplace that will slow investment and deployment of infrastructure and hurt consumers," Pai also claimed in his statement. "I am confident that the FCC's authority to preempt such state laws will be upheld."

Oral arguments for the DC Circuit appeals case are scheduled to begin on Feb. 1.

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