City governments have already been able to provide and sell Internet service - it is PUDs* that are banned from selling until and unless this bill is signed. An

City governments have already been able to provide and sell Internet service - it is PUDs* that are banned from selling until and unless this bill is signed. And not only is the ban only on retail as opposed to wholesale service, there is also already a slight and temporary relaxation of the ban for coastal regions west of the Seattle area. [1] Since you're also a Seattle-area local, you might remember that Seattle tried to do a public-private partnership with a company called Gigabit Squared to run fiber into Seattleites' homes. That initiative failed in 2014 [2], but the Seattle City Council has always been able to reconsider, with or without this bill. * Public Utility Districts are special-purpose governments in Washington dedicated to being non-profit electric or water utilities, with limited tax powers (.045% property tax per year). Many counties have county-wide PUDs that are independent of the county government, such as Snohomish County PUD (Seattle's northern suburbs; no broadband offering) and Chelan County PUD (central Cascade mountains like Wenatchee and Leavenworth; does offer wholesale broadband). [1] https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=54.16.420 https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=54.16.420 [2] https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2014/01/seattles-fiber-deal-with-gigabit.html https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2014/01/s...