Report: FCC, States On Collision Course

State governments are becoming pivotal players in the battle over net neutrality. In recent weeks, legislatures from California to Massachusetts have introduced bills aimed at restoring the Federal Communications Commission's broadband rules, which banned Internet providers from arbitrarily speeding up or slowing down websites.

The Washington Post reports the initiatives have put states on a collision course with the FCC. But now a new tactic gaining momentum among governors threatens to complicate the debate further. Their novel approach, analysts say, is largely untested in court — and it could drive the fight over the Internet's future into hazy legal territory.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) this week became one of the latest to adopt the strategy, signing an executive order that effectively forces Internet service providers (ISPs) that do business with the state to abide by strong net neutrality rules.

Rather than directly regulating the broadband industry, the executive order imposes procurement obligations on state agencies. Under the order, state officials contracting with ISPs for service may do so only if the providers agree not to block or slow websites, or to offer websites faster delivery to consumers in exchange for an extra fee.

As a large consumer of Internet service, said Murphy, the state may be able to pressure ISPs into granting New Jersey residents the same equal-access protections afforded to the government.

The decision comes weeks after Montana and New York officials signed virtually identical orders. The state of Hawaii this week also joined the group.

The orders could contradict the FCC's new rules on net neutrality, which claim to “preempt any state or local requirements that are inconsistent” with the agency's deregulatory agenda. (The FCC declined to comment.) But whether a court will agree with the FCC's approach is unclear. The debate over net neutrality is headed into uncharted waters, analysts say.