After the FCC voted to repeal Net Neutrality last December, Congress missed its chance to block the change. On June 11th, the repeal became official.

So at the federal level, Net Neutrality is done. Gone. Like a dead parrot, it is no more.

But there’s still hope for Net Neutrality. California could do it.

As we know, California is a big, powerful state. A California Net Neutrality law would have a lot of weight. Some state representatives recently offered two separate bills to establish a California version of Net Neutrality. And not to brag, but our own State Senator, Bill Monning, was a co-sponsor on the stronger of the two bills! Yay Bill. Next, the bills were combined. We had high hopes. And then…

What Happened to the Net Neutrality Bill?

Corporate lobbyists for AT&T, who just won several battles on the federal level, didn’t sit idly while California deliberated. The bill supporting Net Neutrality — which is extremely popular — was nonetheless edited late at night, in committee, in a hurry.

Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), who’s received $29,000 in campaign contributions from large ISPs this election cycle and doubtless expects more to come, led the process, and didn’t allow debate. The bill was watered down so much that its author, Scott Wiener of San Francisco, disassociated himself from it.

             “This committee has turned the bill into one that doesn’t protect net neutrality,” said Wiener.

Read more about the “tense Assembly committee meeting” here.

What’s next? There will be another Assembly committee — Privacy and Consumer Protection — meeting on the bill soon. Will California wake up and protect Net Neutrality? Or will state representatives continue to cave to pressure from some of the biggest companies in the country — AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and Spectrum? Follow the gritty details on Steve Blum’s blog at TellusVenture.com.

Again, the best step we can take right now is to let our state representatives know it’s important. Our local reps are on the right side, but it’s easy for politicians to let things slide if we don’t express our views.

To protect Net Neutrality, write to:
Governor Jerry Brown
Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom
Assembly Member Mark Stone
Assembly Member Anna Caballero
State Senator Bill Monning

And maybe send Assembly Member Miguel Santiago a nasty note.