The law, which went into effect last month without Gov. Janet Mills' signature, comes after a court struck down federal regulations mandating net neutrality in January.
Generally speaking, "net neutrality" refers to the principle that all traffic on the Internet should be treated equally in terms of access and priority. Proponents for years have argued that without regulation, Internet service providers could slow connections to — or refuse to serve — certain websites based on their content or could charge special fees for access, mirroring cable television, where customers can opt to pay for premium channels.
"A part of the core concepts of net neutrality really has to do with treating the Internet as a public utility, recognizing that that is a fundamental technology for the operation of society," said Rep. Christopher Kessler, D-South Portland, who sponsored the legislation.
The law makes failing to uphold net neutrality, including by "throttling" or deliberately slowing certain connections, a violation of the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act. While there are no specific penalties laid out in the law, Kessler said the Maine Attorney General's Office will be responsible for enforcement and could determine consequences for bad actors on a case-by-case basis.
Having a state law will help implement insulate Mainers from the impacts and uncertainty of shifting federal policy, but Internet customers will likely not feel any difference in their day-to-day, Kessler said.
"This is really a preventative measure," he said. "Customers shouldn't necessarily see any changes to their service, as long as the ISPs are doing what they say they're already doing."
Andrew Butcher, president of the quasi-governmental Maine Connectivity Authority, agreed that customers were unlikely to feel any change.
The new law is well-intentioned, he said, but it does not address a significant problem facing the state. Butcher said he was not aware of any attempts to undermine net neutrality by Internet providers — or of any complaints by customers or groups.
"I appreciate that it's trying to solve a potential threat down the line," he said. "There's also no real, meaningful mechanism for rulemaking, interpretation or enforcement."
Butcher added that, given the interconnectedness of Internet infrastructure, neutrality rules may be outside the scope of what Maine can reasonably enforce.
"In some ways it is beyond the jurisdiction of our control," he said.
FALLING TO STATES
The now-defunct national regulations were first implemented under the Obama administration and later repealed by President Donald Trump during his first term. While the issue garnered major attention about a decade ago, it's received relatively less focus in the years since, even as policies continue to shift.
Last year, the Federal Communications Commission voted to restore its neutrality regulations by classifying broadband as a public utility, reigniting a legal back-and-forth that has existed for years.
But in January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Ohio ruled that the FCC overstepped its authority outlined in the Federal Communications Act of 1934.
At the time, Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the appeals court's ruling "will have a devastating effect on free speech online" and charged that "Internet rights are civil rights" in a written statement.
The January ruling did not impact state-level laws like those in Washington and California. Kessler said Maine's legislation is modeled largely after California's law, signed in 2018.
Maine House Democrats voted along party lines to pass Kessler's bill early last month. The bill was engrossed by the Senate and then enacted by both chambers without any further roll calls. Gov. Janet Mills didn't sign the bill but didn't veto it either.
The new law broadens Maine's existing law — signed by Mills in 2019 — that required net neutral service on communications infrastructure built with state money.
Like its predecessor, the new rule also explicitly maintains service providers' abilities to restrict access to illegal content, including through pirating copyrighted materials. Providers are also still able to offer plans with varied speed and data limits, income-restricted plans and promotional price offers "as long as such plans are offered on a nondiscriminatory basis and are consistent with net neutral service." It also prohibits individuals from bringing private action against an Internet service provider.
Kessler said he worked with Internet providers to try and address their concern about overregulation, and he said ISPs "didn't fight this bill as hard as they had in previous years."
The new law is also intended to prevent federal interference in Maine's Internet landscape, Kessler said.
"We've seen the Trump administration pressure companies to bend to their will by withholding funds, blocking mergers — a variety of pressure tactics to have them fall into line," Kessler said.
Opponents, however, have argued that requiring net neutrality will stifle investment in new Internet service infrastructure and ultimately harm consumers.
Harris Van Pate, policy analyst at the conservative Maine Policy Institute, told lawmakers that requiring net neutrality would limit Internet expansion in the state, especially in the state's more rural corners, and it could set up additional legal clashes between Maine and the Trump administration "if the federal government officially opposes another state policy in Maine."
Maine has struggled for years to bring broadband Internet access to all its residents. About 24,000 locations in Maine are eligible for broadband but did not have access, according to the latest available data, Butcher said.
©2025 the Portland Press Herald, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
