Several states consider price requirements

While the California proposal will face opposition from ISPs and is not guaranteed to become law, the amended bill has higher speed requirements for the $15 plan than the existing New York law that inspired it. The New York law lets ISPs comply either by offering $15 broadband plans with download speeds of at least 25Mbps, or $20-per-month service with 200Mbps speeds. The New York law doesn’t specify minimum upload speeds.

AT&T stopped offering its 5G home Internet service in New York entirely instead of complying with the law. But AT&T wouldn’t be able to pull home Internet service out of California so easily because it offers DSL and fiber Internet in the state, and it is still classified as a carrier of last resort for landline phone service.

The California bill says ISPs must file annual reports starting January 1, 2027, to describe their affordable plans and specify the number of households that purchased the service and the number of households that were rejected based on eligibility verification. The bill seems to assume that ISPs will offer the plans before 2027 but doesn’t specify an earlier date. Boerner’s office told us the rule would take effect on January 1, 2026. Boerner’s office is also working on an exemption for small ISPs, but hasn’t settled on final details.

Meanwhile, a Massachusetts bill proposes requiring that ISPs provide at least 100Mbps speeds for $15 a month or 200Mbps for $20 a month. A Vermont bill would require 25Mbps speeds for $15 a month or 200Mbps for $20 a month.

Telco groups told the Supreme Court last year that the New York law “will likely lead to more rate regulation absent the Court’s intervention” as other states will copy New York. They subsequently claimed that AT&T’s New York exit proves the law is having a negative effect. But the Supreme Court twice declined to hear the industry challenge, allowing New York to enforce the law.

After making gains in almost every state in the 2024 elections, Republicans are now setting their sights on a new battleground: California.

Why It Matters

California has historically been a heavily Democratic state, selecting a Democrat in every presidential election since 1992. But recent polls have indicated the tide could be turning on the Democrats in the Golden State. It comes after the state shifted toward the GOP by 12 points in 2024 compared to 2020, with Donald Trump increasing his vote share in nearly every county in the state. The Republicans also flipped three seats in the state Legislature last year.

If the Democratic Party loses ground in California, it could reshape the state’s leadership as early as 2026, when the next governor will be elected and most of California’s state Legislature will be up for election.

What To Know

Amid the GOP’s recent success in the state, the California Republican Party is now seeking to capitalize on that momentum and break the Democratic supermajority.

A supermajority means holding at least two-thirds of the seats in a legislative body. The Democrats currently hold 90 seats across California’s state Assembly and Senate, amounting to 75 percent of the 120 seats. That means that the Republicans need to pick up seven seats in the Assembly and four in the Senate to break the Democratic supermajority.

Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher of Yuba City told CalMatters that Republicans could target as many as eight Assembly districts in the Central Valley and Southern California to flip next year.

To do that, newly elected California Republican Party Chair Corrin Rankin said at a party convention in Sacramento last weekend that the party will be “going on the offense” and expanding efforts to convert voters in Democratic strongholds like Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

That will involve a stream of messaging that blames Democrats for violent crime, which data from California’s Department of Justice shows increased by 3.3 percent in 2023, as well as the cost-of-living crisis. The party will also seek to campaign on ballot initiatives where voters have at times been willing to side with Republicans, including raising criminal penalties for some drug and theft offenses.

But the most important part of the strategy will be disassociating the deep-blue state’s Republican Party from Trump. A recent poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) between February 4 and 11 among 1,589 respondents in the state showed that only one in three Californians approve of the president’s job performance. Among them, 84 percent of Republicans, 7 percent of Democrats and 28 percent of independent voters approve. But that still makes Trump less popular among Californians than any other president since before 2005.

For GOP consultant Mike Madrid, it is important that California Republicans do not associate with Trump because doing so could be especially damaging amid economic uncertainty in the country, he told CalMatters. It comes after Trump this month proceeded with plans to impose additional tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, which some experts say could increase inflation.

Goldman Sachs previously estimated that the tariffs could push inflation by 1 percent while squeezing U.S. company profits and provoking retaliatory measures from other countries. Canada, for example, has announced billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs. At the same time, inflation is already affecting the economy, as a Labor Department report for January saw the largest consumer price increase in nearly 18 months.

Recent polls have shown that Trump’s handling of the economy is a key factor in his declining popularity on a national level. And that has also been apparent in California. PPIC’s recent poll showed that when respondents were asked if they thought during the next 12 months the United States will have good times financially or bad times, only 27 percent said good times, while 72 percent said they think the U.S. will see bad times.

Nonetheless, outgoing California Republican Party Chair Jessica Millan Patterson told CalMatters that it is important the party is able to motivate Trump supporters if they want to break the Democratic supermajority.

“We need to make sure we are motivating those Trump voters and I don’t know that anyone has found that secret sauce yet,” she said. “We welcome all voices. We’re focused on California and Californians….People are desperately looking for options.”

It comes as polls have indicated that Californians may be turning on the Democratic Party. According to polling by Capitol Weekly, published on February 6, when asked “Do you think the Democratic Party has shown an ability to present an effective case against the Trump administration?” only 11 percent said yes, with 79 percent of voters saying that the party has not shown this ability. Among Democrats, the numbers didn’t improve much—with 19 percent expressing confidence in their party, and 68 percent saying “no.” The poll surveyed 1,198 voters in California.

Voters were also asked to give one word to describe the Democratic Party, and the responses were bleak. The most common words voters chose were “lost,” “ineffective” and “weak.” Other words included “toothless,” “ineffectual” and “floundering.” Some voters were more positive, describing the party as “determined,” “optimistic” and “caring.”

Meanwhile, Republican registration in California has ticked back up slightly to 25 percent of registered voters in 2024 but is still far behind the 46 percent who support the Democratic Party. About 22 percent are registered as independents, according to the PPIC.

As California Republicans head into a future under Trump, they are optimistic about their prospects.

“Change is coming to California. It’s time to end the Democrats’ one-party rule and make California great again,” Rankin told delegates after winning the leadership post.

What People Are Saying

California Republican Party Chair Corrin Rankin: “Change is coming to California. It’s time to end the Democrats’ one-party rule and make California great again. We’re going on the offense. We need to expand the battlefield and to take the fight to every corner of our state.”

What Happens Next

The next California State Legislature elections will be held on November 3, 2026, during the midterms. All 80 seats in the California State Assembly (which has two-year terms) will be up for election. And 20 of the 40 seats in the California State Senate (which has four-year terms) will also be contested, as Senate seats are staggered with half up for election every two years.

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. – An Orange County couple with no criminal history who had lived in the U.S. for 35 years were deported and are now in Colombia, according to an update from one of their three daughters on Thursday. 

What we know:

Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez of Laguna Niguel were detained on Feb. 21 during a routine immigration check-in as part of ongoing nationwide mass deportation efforts. 

While Gladys was initially granted an extension, hours later, a different agent arrested both her and Nelson. 

“This official was cruel,” said Stephanie, one of their three daughters. “They arrested my dad first and then called my mom in and arrested her too.”

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: OC couple scheduled to be deported to Colombia

The couple, who were included in the ongoing mass deportations, were held in a San Bernardino County detention center before being transferred to Arizona and ultimately Louisiana. They were told they would be out of the country by the end of the month and could not appeal the decision.

The backstory:

The couple arrived in the U.S. from Colombia in 1989, seeking asylum due to the dangerous conditions in their home country. 

“There was a lot of violence, a lot of drugs,” their daughter Stephanie explained. “They came here to escape that danger.”

The Gonzalezes, despite facing setbacks, continued their efforts to gain legal status. Their daughters say their parents hired attorneys who were later disbarred, but the couple remained persistent, obtaining yearly extensions on their status. 

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Nelson worked as a phlebotomist, and Gladys was a housewife. Neither had any criminal record.

“They never missed an appointment. They always showed up. They were never hiding,” said Stephanie. “They were just good people doing what they were supposed to do.”

What they’re saying:

Following their parents’ arrests, the Gonzalez daughters created a GoFundMe to help Gladys and Nelson rebuild their lives in Colombia. 

In an update posted to the official page on March 20, the daughters thanked donors for their support and confirmed their parents arrived in Colombia together.

“We are thankful this nightmare is over, while at the same time grieving the reality that our parents will not be coming home anytime soon. Our goal now is to help them prepare for their new lives in Colombia and do whatever we can to bring them back home in the future,” the three daughters said.

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“We never expected to receive so much generosity from kind friends, family, and strangers… Our parents deserve the world and if people wanted to give financially to help our parents, we weren’t going to say no. So again, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”

Big picture view:

Trump began his crackdown on immigration immediately after beginning his second term in office.

During his first week in office, Trump signed 10 executive orders on immigration and issued a slew of edicts to carry out promises of mass deportations and border security.

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Trump expanded arrest priorities to anyone in the country illegally, not just people with criminal convictions, public safety or national security threats and migrants stopped at the border.

The administration also ended a policy to avoid arrests at “sensitive locations,” including schools, hospitals and places of worship. It said it may deport people who entered the country legally on parole, a presidential authority that former President Joe Biden used more than any president.

It also threatened to punish “sanctuary” jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Under Biden, ICE deported more than 270,000 people in a 12-month period that ended in September. That was the highest annual tally in a decade, helped by an increase in deportation flights, according to the Associated Press. The Biden administration did not use military planes.

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