Calif. Digital Discrimination Bill Clears 2 Committees

A California bill on digital discrimination will advance to the Senate Appropriations Committee after clearing two policy committees Tuesday. Sponsor Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D) vigorously defended the bill including a disparate impact standard at the Communications Committee hearing that day (see 2407020062). AB-2239 would ban digital discrimination as the FCC defines it. “This is a win for disconnected Californians,” Bonta said in an emailed news release Wednesday. “Low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately disconnected.” The California legislature returns from summer recess Aug. 5.