Could Donald Trump’s pick to head the FCC spell disaster for California broadband access?

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COULD TRUMP’S FCC PICK SPELL DISASTER FOR CALIFORNIA BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS?

President-Elect Donald Trump has continued to roll out his picks to run the various federal agencies when he takes office next year, and one in particular has open internet advocates both nationwide and in California ringing alarm bells.

That’s Republican Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr, whom Trump has chosen to head that agency under his administration.

The president-elect showered Carr, who previously served as FCC general counsel, with effusive praise in his official announcement, calling him “a warrior for free speech” who has “fought against the regulatory lawfare that has stifled Americans’ freedoms, and held back our economy.”

Trump said that Carr would “end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling America’s job creators and innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America.”

It’s that last part that is causing great concern for Shayna Englin, director of digital equity initiatives with the California Community Foundation, which is part of a coalition of statewide organizations called the California Alliance for Digital Equity.

“Commissioner Carr wrote the chapter on the FCC in the Project 2025 playbook,” Englin told The Bee in an interview. “We know exactly what his intent is to do withh that agency.”

For starters, Carr has said that he intends to end the FCC’s Diverity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program, which has seen the FCC under President Joe Biden work toward eliminating barriers for disadvantaged communities to access broadband internet.

And what Trump said about delivering for rural America?

Englin said that will directly impact the vast majority of Californians, as a Trump FCC redirects federal funds away from urban and suburban communities (in which 94% of Californians reside) toward rural communities.

In other words: Defunding California.

“This is going to have implications in every state in the country, but it’s also true that it’s going to have an outside impact on California and to Californians,” she said.

Englin said that the best predictor for whether you have fast, affordable and reliable broadband internet access is your race and your income level. The Biden administration’s FCC had worked toward reducing those barriers for underprivileged communities, but that will likely end when Trump takes office.

The Trump FCC will likely try again to end Net Neutrality — the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all internet communications equally and not throttle access to some — and while California lawmakers passed a law enshrining Net Neutrality in the state during the first Trump administration, Englin said there are other areas where lawmakers must act quickly to protect Golden State residents.

She said the state needs to put in place protections against digital discrimination, such as ISPs charging more money for high-speed internet access in lower income areas.

Englin said that lawmakers have been having this conversation for four years now, but “with Brendan Carr’s FCC, we have to do it now.”

She said California needs to stop deferring to and, relying on, the federal government for broadband protections.

Englin praised Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, D-Oakland, as “a tireless champion for equity and justice across the board” and said that her coalition would continue working with Bonta and other lawmakers in the coming session to craft a legislative response to Trump’s FCC.

But it’s not just digital equity at risk under Carr, said Evan Greer, director of the advocacy group Fight for the Future.

“While falsely portraying himself as a free speech champion, Carr has made clear he actually wants the FCC to get more involved in policing online speech,” she said in an email statement to The Bee.

Greer said Carr intends to reinterpret Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (added in 1996) to “become more involved in policing online speech.” Section 230 provides some immunity to online publishers for third-party content created by users. In other words, sites like Facebook and X are generally considered not liable for the posts made on those social media platforms.

In a post on X, Carr said, “We must dismantle the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights for everyday Americans.”

However, Greer said most legal experts “agree that this is a pipe dream.”

Still, Greer warned that Carr could use his position “to funnel money to companies run by Trump cronies like Elon Musk, while punishing opponents by increasing their fees or ending subsidies and contracts. In short, Carr plans to use the full weight of the FCC to help billionaires and authoritarians while abandoning the agency’s actual mission of protecting the public interest.”

SENATE GOP LEADER CITES USC REPORT TO WARN OF HIGHER GAS PRICES TO COME

The report from the USC Marshall School of Business says it all in the name: “Brace for Impact...California Gasoline Prices to Spike in 2025.”

The report, which you can view here, opens and ends with the same sentence: “Policy has consequences.”

In this case, it’s Gov. Gavin Newsom’s policy, enacted by the Democratic supermajority-controlled Legislature, that may have serious consequences for California motorists, in the form of an up to 90-cent increase on the price of gas per gallon.

“To compensate for the increases, the average Californian driving an internal combustion vehicle will have to earn an additional $600.00 to $1,000.00 a year in pre-tax income in order to ‘break even’ with 2024 prices, depending on the grade of gas they purchase,” according to the report.

The report cites the recent decision by the California Air Resources Board to enact a new Low Carbon Fuel Standard, and the Legislature’s passage and Newsom’s signing of ABX2-1 as contributing factors to the increases.

That’s an ill omen for an increasingly unpopular Democratic governor with rumored presidential ambitions.

The governor’s office was not amused with the report, which was authored by Michael A. Mische.

In a post on X, Newsom’s press office said “This is why it’s important to check your sources. The author of this 1.5-page ‘study:’ 1) Was on the payroll of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2) Openly admits there is no methodology, just ‘author estimates’ and ‘rough approximation.’”

Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, R-Santee, was quick to pounce on the study as further proof that Democrats are out of touch with their constituents; he referenced the governor’s recent purchase of a $9.1 million home in Marin County.

“While regular Californians face tough choices between putting food on the table or gas in their cars, Newsom will be chauffeured to work from his luxury home in a taxpayer-funded car, running on taxpayer-funded gas, on the rare occasions he decides to show up,” Jones said in a statement.

The Republican leader vowed to push a bill in the coming legislative session to repeal the CARB’s LCFS, though such an effort would almost certainly be dead on arrival in the current Legislature, where the California GOP makes up a superminority in both houses.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Furthermore, the Latino Caucus chair claims #caleg Republicans can create their own taxpayer-funded caucus. So, is she offering to fund it?”

- Assembly Republican Caucus staffer George Andrews, responding to yesterday’s AM Alert, via Bluesky.

Best of The Bee:

• Donald Trump vs California: 5 ways the president-elect could challenge state policies, via Andrew Sheeler and William Melhado.

• Trump tax cut made it harder for Californians to afford homes. Will Congress change it? Via David Lightman.

This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 4:55 AM.