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Washington is the first state to pass its own net neutrality law

These protections should be a bit harder to undo than an executive order.

Net neutrality is safe in Washington. Governor Jay Inslee has signed House Bill 2282 into law, which will expressly protect the state's residents from the rollbacks the FCC passed in December. The bill requires (PDF) any person selling broadband internet access to publicly disclose how it runs its network by putting things like network management practices on a "publicly available, easily accessible" website. That last bit is key -- the FCC tried obfuscating the comment page for Title II provisions last year.

"A person engaged in the provision of broadband internet access service in Washington state... may not: Block lawful content, applications, services or nonharmful devices, subject to network management; impair or degrade lawful internet traffic; engage in paid prioritization," the bill reads.

Washington is the first state to establish a law protecting Net Neutrality. HB 2282 will be put into practice 90 days from now (by June 6th) or whenever the FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom order takes effect, whichever comes first. While executive orders are how some states are dealing with the unpopular decision, net neutrality becoming a law in Washington should make it harder to undo or challenge in court. Here's to hoping more states follow Washington's lead -- an open internet is too important to not protect.