Media Contact: 
Tina Pelkey, (202) 418-0536
tina.pelkey@fcc.gov

For Immediate Release

CHAIRMAN PAI STATEMENT ON DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE DECISION TO FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST CALIFORNIA LAW REGULATING THE INTERNET

WASHINGTON, September 30, 2018—Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement after the Department of Justice announced that it had filed a lawsuit against the state of California regarding Senate Bill 822, a law regulating the Internet:

“I’m pleased the Department of Justice has filed this suit.  The Internet is inherently an interstate information service.  As such, only the federal government can set policy in this area.  And the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently reaffirmed that state regulation of information services is preempted by federal law.  

“Not only is California’s Internet regulation law illegal, it also hurts consumers.  The law prohibits many free-data plans, which allow consumers to stream video, music, and the like exempt from any data limits.  They have proven enormously popular in the marketplace, especially among lower-income Americans.  But notwithstanding the consumer benefits, this state law bans them.  

“The Internet is free and open today, and it will continue to be under the light-touch protections of the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order.  I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Department of Justice to ensure the Internet remains ‘unfettered by Federal or State regulation,’ as federal law requires, and the domain of engineers, entrepreneurs, and technologists, not lawyers and bureaucrats.”


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Office of Chairman Ajit Pai: (202) 418-1000
Twitter: @AjitPaiFCC
www.fcc.gov/leadership/ajit-pai

This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.  See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).