UPDATE, Nov. 3, 2026: The California Public Utilities Commission signed the Notice of Award for the state’s $1.42 billion federal broadband grant Monday, accepting the money despite the fact that it comes with a threat to California’s consumer protection laws.
In a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration sent alongside the notice, CPUC President John Reynolds called “vague and ambiguous,” Condition 50, a federal stipulation that states that accept the grant not “directly or indirectly” regulate rates, terms and conditions, plus net neutrality, open access and other “utility-style” rules. Reynolds wrote that the commission cannot stop other state agencies, including the attorney general’s office, from enforcing state law. He also noted that California’s net neutrality law declares any waiver of its protections void. The commission will sign agreements to pay AT&T, Comcast and other providers only “if and when” it resolves any disagreement with NTIA over the condition.
Stanford law professor Barbara van Shewick told KQED that the letter preserves California’s legal arguments but doesn’t change the award itself. “Condition 50 is still in it, and only a court of NTIA agreeing in writing can take it out,” she wrote in an email. The real test, she added, will come the first time a provider that took the money breaks one of the state’s rules and California must decide whether to enforce it.
Read full story at KQED.