Businesses Praise CA Senate Passage of Net Neutrality Bill

Sacramento, CA – In support of the California Senate yesterday passing a net neutrality bill drafted by Senator Scott Wiener, the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) released the following statement. It may attributed to President and Co-founder David Levine:

“ASBC and its members are pleased that the California Senate has passed SB 822 to implement net neutrality protections in California. While we prefer a federal solution, we urge the California Assembly to follow suit and pass the bill. Sign on to support our effort at canetneutrality.com.”

Also, Mac Clemmens, CEO of Digital Deployment, a CA-based web development company,and member of ASBC said, “As the CEO of an online services company, I see the looming threats up close. ISPs have long wanted to charge extra fees and create pay-to-play fast lanes, but the FCC has always stopped them. Now our business and non-profit clients could face the prospect of having to pay ISPs just so their sites load properly. In the worst case, they might get stuck in a “slow lane” for lack of funds for the fast lane.”

ASBC is co-sponsoring with Small Business Majority and Main Street Alliance a national business sign-on statement that calls on the U.S. Congress to restore net neutrality protections through any possible means. It says, in part, “Removing the 2015 standards undermines our free market economy by handing internet access providers immense power to steer businesses and customers one way or another.” That statement may be found here: netneutrality.asbcouncil.org.

ASBC has also released a white paper, The Business Case for Net Neutrality. It describes the risks to business and the economy from the loss of net neutrality protections.

Nationally, repeal of the FFC’s net neutrality rules takes effect on June 11, and an effort to reverse that decision passed the U.S. Senate and has moved to the U.S. House.