MONTPELIER, VT—In February, two months after the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission voted along party lines to repeal Obama-era net neutrality rules, Vermont Governor Phil Scott—also a Republican—issued an executive order protecting the open internet regulations in his state.
In May, the state’s legislature passed, and Scott signed, a law that made Scott’s executive order official, though the law applies only to internet providers that enter into contracts with the state.
But after California in August passed the nation’s most expansive open internet protections, drawing immediate lawsuits from both the Donald Trump administration and a group of telecommunications companies, Scott now says that he expects Vermont to be hit with lawsuits as well—and he says that Vermont is ready.
In fact, Scott said in a statement that he expects a lawsuit to come as early as Thursday (i.e., today).
“Our net neutrality legislation and my Executive Order demonstrate a clear commitment from Vermont’s elected officials, across branches and party lines, to preserving and promoting a free and open internet in Vermont,” the 60-year-old former businessman said in the statement. “I am disappointed to hear national telecom and cable organizations plan to sue us for taking action to protect our citizens and our economy.”
Without nationwide rules to protect Vermonters’ “right to free and open access to information on the internet,” Scott said, the state “must act.”
“I am committed to working with the Attorney General’s Office to stand up for these rights in court,” Scott pledged.
Last week, Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, made a similar vow, telling the Trump administration to “bring it on,” if it planned to sue over that state’s net neutrality law, which took effect on June 11, the same day that the FCC rules officially ceased to exist.
In addition to California, Vermont, and Washington, five other states have also enacted or passed some form of net neutrality protections since the FCC’s December vote to eliminate the 2015 rules.
Trump appointee Ajit Pai, who chairs the FCC, has called the state-level net neutrality rules “illegal.”
"A recent court decision made this clear,” Pai said on a recent trip to Vermont. “The internet is inherently interstate activity, and it follows from that that only the federal government can set policy. You don't want a patchwork of 50 different states taking a bite at the regulatory apple."
Photo by Chief National Guard Bureau/Wikimedia Commons Public Domain
