California grabs $1.42B broadband cash, refuses to scrap net neutrality law

California will take the Trump administration's broadband cash — all $1.42 billion of it — but it isn't handing over its net neutrality law in return. The state told the federal government it's accepting the grant while reserving the right to fight the strings attached, according to Ars Technica.

Those strings come from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which decided last year that any state taking money from the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program has to promise not to enforce rate regulation or net neutrality rules on the Internet providers that get the funds. California called the demand preposterous.

The state has its own plans for the money. It's slated to spend $1.42 billion to run broadband out to 270,571 locations, and could ultimately pull up to $1.86 billion from BEAD once non-deployment projects are counted in. Every dollar is aimed at closing the state's digital divide.

Nothing is settled yet. California says it could delay or scrap its grant distribution depending on how the standoff plays out, and the fight could balloon into multiple legal battles dragging in the state, the federal government and ISPs with their hands out for subsidies.

For now, the money is claimed and the law stands. The next move — negotiation or courtroom — decides whether Californians get fiber and whether other states follow the same playbook.