Remember that California Democrat we were gonna put up a billboard about because he helped gut a net neutrality bill? Well, it worked and now the bill is being restored!
Hi everyone, great news! After massive public pressure California lawmakers have agreed to restore ALL of the key protections that were stripped from net neutrality bill SB 822 at a committee hearing two weeks ago.
That’s huge. Based on a press conference today, the bill is now back to its original status as the strongest state level net neutrality bill in the country, including an essential ban on discriminatory “zero rating” schemes, and it has huge momentum as it heads to to the Assembly floor.
You may remember, and many of you may have chipped in toward, a crowdfunded billboard we were planning to put up in Chairman Miguel Santiago’s district. Fortunately, it appears the threat of the billboard, combined with thousands of phone calls, tweets, and in-person pressure from constituents, succeeded in forcing Assemblyman Santiago back to the table, and he has now even become a cosponsor of SB 822.
For now, we’re putting the billboard on “pause” until the final text of the bill is released. Assuming the bill has indeed been restored, we will use the funds raised for the billboard to support activism focused on passing the bill through the rest of the California Assembly, including organizing in-district meetings between constituents and California lawmakers, and covering tech costs of connecting constituent phone calls through click-to-call tools like battleforthenet.com/call/california. If necessary, we can also use those funds for a billboard to target any other California legislators that attempt to block or weaken the bill.
We will email everyone who donated toward the original billboard to update them on the situation, and offer to refund those donations if preferred.
In the meantime, everyone should CALL THEIR CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY MEMBERS and tell them to pass SB 822 and restore net neutrality in California!
This was a huge win for the free and open Internet. It shows that when we come together and fight, we can still win even against powerful corporations like AT&T and Comcast. Let’s keep the fight going!
