Dear friends and neighbors,
We are partway through the 2018 legislative session, and I wanted to write about something important to many of you: protecting net neutrality in Washington state.
As you may know, there were net neutrality rules in place nationwide until the FCC recently announced their elimination. The net neutrality rules protect a free and open internet—they protect you from efforts by your internet service provider (ISP) to block otherwise lawful content, slow it down or speed it up, or allow the ISPs corporate partners to load faster than other corporations. The bottom line is that your internet service provider (ISP) should not be able to decide what lawful content you see, how fast or slow it loads, or how much you pay for it.
You can watch a video where I explain this concept in more detail here.
When the FCC rolled these rules back at the federal level, I started working with my Republican counterparts to find a way to maintain these important protections at the state level. Today, I’m excited to share the news that my net neutrality bill—HB 2282—recently passed out of committee with a strong bipartisan vote.
This tells you something. Net neutrality is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. Net neutrality is important to all of us—as citizens, as entrepreneurs who can’t afford to pay for special treatment, as small businesses, as everyone. I’m grateful that—in this hyper-partisan era—we have worked together across party lines and found bipartisan support for maintaining net neutrality in Washington.
Thanks for reading; I’ll keep you updated as this important bill moves through the Legislature.
Best,
Drew