[Plura-list] SPECIAL EDITION: Save California broadband

[Cory Doctorow]

[Readers, this came in just AFTER I published today's edition; normally
I'd publish it in tomorrow's, but there's a ticking bomb and it goes off
at midnight. Please send this to your California friends and colleagues!]

THIS IS URGENT!

California may be home to Silicon Valley, but its telcoms infrastructure
is TERRIBLE. This was a problem before the crisis. Today - as our
education, employment, politics, civics, family life and health are
delivered by our broadband, it's a catastrophe

Across the state, masked school children spend their days sitting on
sidewalks in front of fast-food restaurants in order to get online and
connect to their virtual classrooms.

https://twitter.com/kdeleon/status/1299386969873461248

40% of California Latinx households do not have broadband.

We can fix this. SB1130 expands fiber across the state, especially to
underserved communities: communities of color, rural communities.

But Speaker Anthony Rendon just tabled the bill and is about to dismiss
the legislature.

WE HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT TODAY TO SAVE THE BILL

This is entirely in the hands of the Speaker. Governor Newsom and the
state Senate have signalled their support for closing the digital divide
with SB1130.

It is only Speaker Rendon (whose own district is a broadband desert!)
who stands in the way.

Here's how to call and write to your state assembly member:

https://act.eff.org/action/california-tell-your-assemblymembers-that-all-californians-deserve-21st-century-internet

There's a statewide lockdown on. Our lazy, greedy, useless monopoly ISPs
have put our state in a terribly vulnerable position, extracting our
dollars to enrich their shareholders while underinvesting in services.

The employment, education, and political futures of the state's poorest,
most disadvantaged people are on the line. One man holds their future in
his hands.

YOU CAN CHANGE HIS MIND!

CALL AND WRITE NOW. SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS.

This fight is a long-shot, but we can't afford to lose it.

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