Barbara van Schewick, a Stanford Law School professor who helped pass the 2018 state net neutrality law, said it’s essential that the state challenge the federal program’s conditions in court before accepting the funding. She said the federal government’s terms would endanger a 2019 law created after an incident in which firefighters had to revert to using their personal devices while fighting a wildfire after Verizon reduced connection speeds. The federal program can also take back grant money to enforce its conditions.

“You don’t want to fight it out in court whether Verizon has a right to throttle firefighters. When fires are raging, you want Verizon to know they can’t do that, not sort that out a year from now,” she said.

Van Schewick and other advocates say that, beyond giving up net neutrality and risking public safety, accepting the federal funds also would stop low-cost internet programs that could save Californians more than $5 billion in the years ahead.

“The idea that you would give all that up for $1.4 billion is mind boggling,” van Schewick said.