A California lawmaker halted legislation requiring ISPs to provide $15 monthly plans for low-income residents after threats from U.S. officials about losing $1.86 billion in BEAD funds. The bill, influenced by a similar New York law, faced pushback from ISPs, leading to reduced speed requirements. The U.S. guidelines for BEAD prohibit states from mandating low-cost broadband pricing, complicating efforts to establish affordable service options. As a result, lawmakers had to reconsider their approach due to potential funding loss and new federal stipulations affecting state jurisdiction over broadband pricing.
Assemblymember Tasha Boerner stated that the U.S. threatened California with a loss of $1.86 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funds if low-cost service mandates were enacted.
Changes to the bill included reducing the required download speeds from 100Mbps to 50Mbps and the upload speeds from 20Mbps to 10Mbps to appease Internet service providers.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration now prohibits states from explicitly or implicitly setting the low-cost service option rate that Internet service providers must offer.
The $42.45 billion fund created for expanding broadband access comes with stipulations that prevent states from mandating pricing for low-cost broadband options from ISPs.
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