Pennsylvania Latest State to Consider New Net Neutrality Rules

After New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that a state-level net neutrality bill would be high on his 2020 legislative agenda, and with at least six other states already approving some form of open internet rules, the Pennsylvania legislature last week heard testimony aimed at passing a new law in that commonwealth. Pennsylvania Democratic state lawmaker Elizabeth Fiedler last October introduced a net neutrality bill—as did legislators or governors in 28 other states following the FCC’s repeal of Obama-era rules effective in June of 2018.  “Under current law, the company you pay for your internet service could prevent you from going to a competitor’s website, interfere with speech that criticizes the company, or even block your access to a union website during a labor conflict at work,” Fiedler said when she introduced the bill. “We need to protect our equal access to information on the internet.” State Senator Larry Farnese, a Democrat from Philadelphia, has introduced a bill on the senate side that would require telecom companies to adhere to net neutrality standards or be disqualified from receiving state contracts. At last week’s hearing, lawmakers heard testimony that also warned of coming restrictions and inequalities in online access, without net neutrality rules in place. Joshua Stager of the Open Technology Institute warned that the internet would be divided in two—one for “haves,” another for “have nots,” according to the state’s Daily American newspaper. “If you can pay for the fast lane you get it, if you can’t you go to the slow lane,” Stager said at the state house hearing January 9. But he added that the process would be a slow one—sudden, drastic moves by big telecom companies to take advantage of the FCC rollback remain unlikely. The state’s Democratic governor, Tom Wolf, is also on record supporting net neutrality rules. But Republicans continue to hold majorities in both houses of the state legislature. Pennsylvania, however, is one of 22 states to join a lawsuit against the FCC to reverse the net neutrality rollback. Filed in August of 2018, the suit is still working its way through the court system. Photo By Governor Tom Wolf / Wikimedia Commons