A group of national cable and telecom organizations are expected to sue Vermont over its new law and Gov. Phil Scott’s executive order requiring internet providers who do business with the state to abide by net neutrality principles.
Scott said the state was bracing for the lawsuit on Thursday morning, and he defended the actions Vermont had taken to preserve net neutrality standards in the wake of the federal rollback of Obama-era regulations designed to maintain equality in internet service.
The state was expecting the plaintiffs to file the suit against Vermont on Thursday, the governor said.
“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,” Scott said in a 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,” he said.
In May, Scott signed into law a bill requiring internet service companies who contract with the state to adhere to some net neutrality standards. It also entrusts the Attorney General’s Office with determining whether providers who operate in Vermont are following such principles in the wake of weakened regulations.
The repeal of the federal net neutrality rules went into effect in June, six months after the Federal Communications Commission under Trump-appointed Chairman Ajit Pai voted along party lines, 3-2, to overturn the 2015 regulations.
Critics of the federal repeal say that removing the regulations opens the possibility of internet providers offering tiered services for different price points.
A telecom company could, for instance, throttle access to one television streaming service in order to give priority to a different service that pays the provider a premium. Internet users may be charged different amounts for access in “slow lanes” and “fast lanes.”
Months before the Legislature passed Vermont’s net neutrality law, in February, Scott signed an executive order preventing 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.”
At the time Scott issued his order, and the Legislature passed its law, telecommunications groups voiced opposition to the state’s attempts to preserve its own net neutrality standards.
The New England Cable & Telecommunications Association, a trade organization that represents Comcast and Charter Communications in Vermont, said in February that it supports net neutrality standards but opposes Scott’s order.
Tim Wilkerson, the group’s vice president, said the companies he represents adhere to net neutrality standards, but he believes the state shouldn’t be in charge of setting the rules for internet providers.
“The best path forward to lasting consumer protections and growing both innovation and investment is not through a disruptive patchwork of inconsistent state actions, but rather through bipartisan federal legislation that establishes a clear and predictable national standard for net neutrality,” he said in a statement to VtDigger at the time.
The anticipated lawsuit will not be the first legal challenge brought against state net neutrality rules.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state of California over its net neutrality legislation, which is the strictest in the country. That law prevents any internet providers operating in the state from blocking or stifling content, and it bans paid prioritization of internet content.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the California law oversteps its bounds.
“Under the Constitution, states do not regulate interstate commerce — the federal government does,” Sessions said. “Once again the California Legislature has enacted an extreme and illegal state law attempting to frustrate federal policy.”