California fights "preposterous" Trump admin demand to scrap state broadband laws

California is accepting $1.42 billion in broadband grant funding from the Trump administration while reserving the right to challenge the condition that it stop enforcing its net neutrality law and other telecom regulations. The state argues that the condition would violate its constitutional rights. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) requires states to agree not to enforce rate regulation or net neutrality rules on ISPs receiving money from the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. California is set to spend $1.42 billion to deploy broadband to 270,571 locations and may receive up to $1.86 billion from BEAD for both deployment and non-deployment projects.