Seattle Magazine<\/a> \/ Dec. 14, 2017
\nBy Dan Shafer<\/p>\nWashington Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson and other state legislators and business leaders announced Wednesday that Washington would seek to \u201cpreserve an open internet\u201d on the state level if the Federal Communications Commission votes to undo the nation\u2019s net neutrality rules.<\/p>\n
This would make Washington state the first in the nation to pursue a state-level solution to address this issue.<\/p>\n
The FCC voted Thursday to repeal net neutrality rules. The vote was 3-2. <\/p>\n
Following the vote, Ferguson announced that he intends to file a lawsuit along with other attorneys general challenging the decision.<\/p>\n
“We are 5-0 against the Trump Administration because they often fail to follow the law when taking executive action,” he said in a statement. “There is a strong legal argument that with this action, the federal government violated the Administrative Procedure Act \u2014 again. … Allowing internet service providers to discriminate based on content undermines a free and open internet. Today\u2019s action will seriously harm consumers, innovation and small businesses.”<\/p>\n
Making the initial announcement on Dec. 13 in anticipation of the vote, Inslee was joined by Ferguson, Reps. Drew Hansen (D) and Norma Smith (R), newly elected state senator Manka Dhingra, Moz.com Chief Executive Officer Sarah Bird, and Sub Pop Recordings Information Technology Director Andrew Sullivan.<\/p>\n
In a post on Medium, Inslee\u2019s office said, \u201cWhile the FCC\u2019s vote will preempt states from ensuring full net neutrality, there are a number of steps that can be taken at the state level to promote an open internet and strengthen protections for consumers.\u201d <\/p>\n
Inslee\u2019s proposal would include \u201cpursuing the following actions,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
Hold companies to their commitments not to block websites, throttle speeds, or impose prioritization pricing<\/p>\n
\u2022Direct the state\u2019s Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) to establish a process for ISPs to certify that they will not engage in practices inconsistent with net neutrality principles.<\/p>\n
\u2022Limit state-conferred benefits to ISPs that have made such certifications.<\/p>\n
\u2022Limit applicability of UTC pole attachment rules to ISPs that are net neutral.<\/p>\n
\u2022Review other state-conferred benefits such as easements and taxes.<\/p>\n
Leverage the state\u2019s power as a large purchaser of ISP and telecommunications services<\/p>\n
\u2022Use the state government\u2019s role as a big customer, and our ability to establish state master contracts used by local governments, to incentivize Washington companies to adhere to net neutrality principles.<\/p>\n
\u2022Pursue regulatory and legislative action to award contracts to vendors that meet net neutral business requirements.<\/p>\n
\u2022Lead the exploration of a multi-state purchasing cooperative to procure internet service from providers that adhere to net neutrality principles.<\/p>\n
Hold companies accountable for warranties made to consumers<\/p>\n
\u2022Create a state-wide internet speed test. This will allow Washingtonians to test their own broadband speed at home, and submit the test to help appropriate state agencies determine what internet speeds consumers are receiving and where companies may be blocking or throttling.<\/p>\n
\u2022Collaborate with legislators to strengthen our consumer protection laws to include the principles of net neutrality.<\/p>\n
Encourage new entrants into the currently concentrated ISP market<\/p>\n
\u2022Pursue legislation authorizing public utility districts and rural and urban port districts to provide retail ISP and telecommunications services.<\/p>\n
\u2022Prohibit government-owned ISP services, such as municipal broadband networks, from engaging in blocking, throttling, or priority pricing for Internet services.<\/p>\n
Inslee wrote a letter expressing concern with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai\u2019s plan to repeal net neutrality last week, saying \u201cNet neutrality principles ensure large corporations are never in the position of deterring innovation, obstructing entrepreneurship or disenfranchising citizens. They are essential to preserving the very foundation of the internet as we know it, while enabling digital innovation in Washington State and across the country to grow unbridled by corporate interference. Unfortunately, the Commission\u2019s draft order undermines these core principles and for the first time allows broadband providers \u2014 rather than the marketplace \u2014 to pick the winners and losers in the 21st century economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inslee was recently elected chair of the Democratic Governors Association. It remains to be seen if the other 15 states with Democratic governors will follow Washington state\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
State leaders vow to preserve net neutrality in Washington state. Seattle Magazine \/ Dec. 14, 2017 By Dan Shafer Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson and other state legislators and business leaders announced Wednesday that Washington would seek to \u201cpreserve an open internet\u201d on the state level if the Federal Communications Commission votes to undo the nation\u2019s net neutrality rules. This would make Washington state the first in the nation to pursue a state-level solution to address this issue. The FCC voted Thursday to repeal net neutrality rules. The vote was 3-2. Following the vote, Ferguson announced that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
Washington Moves to Fight Trump Administration's Net Neutrality Rollback - Sen. Manka Dhingra<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Washington Moves to Fight Trump Administration's Net Neutrality Rollback - Sen. Manka Dhingra\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"State leaders vow to preserve net neutrality in Washington state. Seattle Magazine \/ Dec. 14, 2017 By Dan Shafer Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson and other state legislators and business leaders announced Wednesday that Washington would seek to \u201cpreserve an open internet\u201d on the state level if the Federal Communications Commission votes to undo the nation\u2019s net neutrality rules. This would make Washington state the first in the nation to pursue a state-level solution to address this issue. The FCC voted Thursday to repeal net neutrality rules. The vote was 3-2. Following the vote, Ferguson announced that...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sen. Manka Dhingra\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-15T17:00:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-17T00:11:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2017\/12\/20171213_115057ab.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2121\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1414\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"sdcadmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"sdcadmin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/\",\"name\":\"Washington Moves to Fight Trump Administration's Net Neutrality Rollback - Sen. Manka Dhingra\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2017\/12\/20171213_115057ab.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-15T17:00:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-17T00:11:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/#\/schema\/person\/d6013ae3db75439130e0f235fcec08d6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2017\/12\/20171213_115057ab.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2017\/12\/20171213_115057ab.jpg\",\"width\":2121,\"height\":1414,\"caption\":\"Gov. Jay Inslee holds a press conference with Rep. Drew Hansen, Rep. Norma Smith, Sen. Manka Dhingra, and Sarah Bird, Chief Executive Officer of Moz.com to call on the FCC to maintain current rules and proposed state policies to promote net neutrality, December 13, 2017.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Washington Moves to Fight Trump Administration’s Net Neutrality Rollback\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/\",\"name\":\"Sen. Manka Dhingra\",\"description\":\"Putting People First\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/#\/schema\/person\/d6013ae3db75439130e0f235fcec08d6\",\"name\":\"sdcadmin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"sdcadmin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/author\/sdcadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Washington Moves to Fight Trump Administration's Net Neutrality Rollback - Sen. Manka Dhingra","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Washington Moves to Fight Trump Administration's Net Neutrality Rollback - Sen. Manka Dhingra","og_description":"State leaders vow to preserve net neutrality in Washington state. Seattle Magazine \/ Dec. 14, 2017 By Dan Shafer Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson and other state legislators and business leaders announced Wednesday that Washington would seek to \u201cpreserve an open internet\u201d on the state level if the Federal Communications Commission votes to undo the nation\u2019s net neutrality rules. This would make Washington state the first in the nation to pursue a state-level solution to address this issue. The FCC voted Thursday to repeal net neutrality rules. The vote was 3-2. Following the vote, Ferguson announced that...","og_url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/","og_site_name":"Sen. Manka Dhingra","article_published_time":"2017-12-15T17:00:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-17T00:11:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2121,"height":1414,"url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2017\/12\/20171213_115057ab.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"sdcadmin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"sdcadmin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/","url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/","name":"Washington Moves to Fight Trump Administration's Net Neutrality Rollback - Sen. Manka Dhingra","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2017\/12\/20171213_115057ab.jpg","datePublished":"2017-12-15T17:00:19+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-17T00:11:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/#\/schema\/person\/d6013ae3db75439130e0f235fcec08d6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2017\/12\/20171213_115057ab.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2017\/12\/20171213_115057ab.jpg","width":2121,"height":1414,"caption":"Gov. Jay Inslee holds a press conference with Rep. Drew Hansen, Rep. Norma Smith, Sen. Manka Dhingra, and Sarah Bird, Chief Executive Officer of Moz.com to call on the FCC to maintain current rules and proposed state policies to promote net neutrality, December 13, 2017."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/2017\/12\/15\/washington-moves-to-fight-trump-administrations-net-neutrality-rollback\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Washington Moves to Fight Trump Administration’s Net Neutrality Rollback"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/#website","url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/","name":"Sen. Manka Dhingra","description":"Putting People First","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/#\/schema\/person\/d6013ae3db75439130e0f235fcec08d6","name":"sdcadmin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"sdcadmin"},"url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/author\/sdcadmin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2017\/12\/20171213_115057ab.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1819,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098\/revisions\/1819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/dhingra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}