Key California lawmakers say they've reached an agreement on legislation to place net neutrality provisions into state law after the Federal Communications Commission dumped rules requiring an equal playing field on the internet.
The agreement announced Thursday comes two weeks after a state Assembly committee infuriated net neutrality advocates by scaling back the legislation. California's bill is seen as one of the nation's most aggressive efforts to continue net neutrality principles.
Sen. Scott Wiener says the agreement will restore the key provisions that were in dispute. Wiener, who wrote the bill, repudiated his own legislation when major pieces were removed. He says those provisions have been restored under his agreement with Democratic Assemblyman Miguel Santiago. It was Santiago's Assembly finance committee which Wiener accused of gutting the original bill. It was shortly after that action by the committee that Santiago began to take serious heat from supporters of the bill, including ugly Internet memes targeting his wife and children.
Wiener says lawmakers will vote on the bill after they return in August from a summer break.Internet companies say state-level net neutrality provisions are not practical.