Senate bill 460 was approved yesterday by the assembly appropriations committee, on a party line vote. The legislature’s online information systems says it was passed “as amended”, which means the committee made some changes. The new version of the bill hasn’t been posted yet, and there’s no online video replay – I wasn’t able to listen in yesterday.
SB 460, which requires state and local agencies to only buy Internet service from companies that abide by net neutrality rules, is a companion bill to SB 822, which would establish those regulations and apply them across the board in California.
Both bills now await a vote by the full assembly. There are two deadlines coming fast this week: any amendments to bills have to be made by tonight. Then, whatever bills are in the hopper on Wednesday morning have to be voted on – yes or no – by Friday night, or they die. In other words, delay is the same as a no vote.