Vermont’s attorney general would be instructed to determine whether internet service providers in the state follow net neutrality standards, under an amended bill passed by the House.
That version of legislation passed by the Senate, S.289, also would require the state Attorney General’s Office to make that information available to consumers by posting it on a website.
The measure also calls for a joint study by that office and the Department of Public Service to determine whether Vermont should put net neutrality rules for internet providers in place in the future.
S.289’s passage in the House marks the latest effort by lawmakers and state officials to address net neutrality in Vermont after the FCC decided last December to roll back Obama-era regulations restricting internet companies from prioritizing certain web traffic.
An executive order addressing the subject that was issued by Gov. Phil Scott in February went into effect this month. It requires internet companies that do business with the state to abide by net neutrality principles.
The order prevents providers who obtain state contracts from blocking content, engaging in paid prioritization of internet services or acting to “throttle, impair or degrade lawful internet traffic on the basis of Internet content, application, or service.”
While the House’s version of S.289 could give consumers the ability to make informed decisions when choosing internet providers and encourage the state to consider future regulations, the legislation transforms the Senate’s original proposal.
Like Scott’s executive order, the version of S.289 the Senate passed in February would require internet service providers to certify compliance with net-neutrality provisions as a precondition for winning state contracts.
But the Senate’s bill was stricter than the executive order and did not include a provision allowing state agencies to request a waiver if they believe bypassing the rules is in the state’s interest.
Critics have called the waiver provision a “loophole” for internet companies. But John Quinn, the state’s chief information officer and secretary of the Agency of Digital Services, has said it’s in place to ensure that state agencies in rural areas with few internet providers don’t lose service.
Rep. Selene Colburn, P-Burlington, said she favors the Senate’s S.289 proposal over the House’s redraft.
“I do not think I’ll be able to support this proposal of amendment because I feel that we’re losing an opportunity to move forward in a more timely way on a really critical issue of equitable access to information in our state,” she said on the House floor on Wednesday.
“I think what the Senate sent to us offers an opportunity to take further action now without waiting an additional year.”
Rep. Laura Sibilia, I-Dover, a member of the House Committee on Energy and Technology, which rewrote the bill, said the committee felt having a waiver provision in place was important to assure that state infrastructures in rural areas don’t lose internet.
Sibilia was a co-sponsor of another net neutrality bill that offered even more sweeping regulations than the Senate’s. Her proposal, H.680, would require any internet providers who want to do business in Vermont to apply to the Public Utility Commission for net neutrality certification.
But Sibilia said she feels lawmakers need more information about whether internet providers are actually changing their practices in the wake of the rollback and how those practices affect Vermonters before they put something like H.680 in place.
“Why can’t we take a few extra months to assess this landscape, which is incredibly dynamic right now?” she said in an interview.
She said she’d be quick to endorse the tough regulations if providers start changing the quality of internet service they deliver Vermonters.
“If in fact providers are going to take advantage of this, let’s sharpen 680 even more,” she said.
The FCC’s December order took effect on Monday.
Rep. Stephen Carr, D-Brandon, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Technology, said most internet service providers are saying that they will continue to abide by net neutrality principles despite the FCC’s rollback.
“Theoretically … there won’t be a change because of the fact that they said they’ve been net neutral anyway,” he said in an interview.
Sibilia said she’s heard that Vermont soon could soon face a legal challenge over its position on net neutrality.
“I have been assured by a number of providers that the state is probably going to be sued over the governor’s executive order,” Sibilia said.
Vermont has taken its own legal action on the issue: in January, Attorney General TJ Donovan joined a coalition of 21 other state attorneys general in a suit to block the FCC’s rollback of the rules.