The Internet is no longer a luxury. It is an essential tool for participating in modern daily life, communication, education, employment and interacting with government. As such, it should be accessible and affordable for all of our residents and businesses.

Because they are such a ubiquitous part of our life, websites and content on the Internet should be free from discrimination. That means that Internet service providers should treat content and data traveling over their networks equally.

This concept is known as net neutrality. It is a core principle that has sought to ensure an affordable and fair Internet for everyone in our cities and across the country.

The Federal Communications Commission formerly agreed with us on this point under President Barack Obama. So did more than 24 million Americans who submitted comments in support of upholding net neutrality. But FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and his Republican allies in Congress have been working overtime at the behest of big corporations and their lobbyists to roll back and repeal vital consumer protections such as net neutrality.

The Trump-designated FCC’s 2017 net neutrality repeal will soon go into effect, leaving Americans unprotected from unfair interference by their ISPs. The repeal of net neutrality will allow big cable and phone companies that own and operate the Internet to create an unequal playing field. This is unfair and will hurt consumers and small businesses.

Thankfully, we have leaders in Sacramento who agree with us. Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener’s SB822 could not come at a better time.

Wiener’s bill would reinstate net neutrality as the law of the land in California. It almost identically mirrors the FCC 2015 Open Internet Order, which was upheld by the courts and overwhelmingly supported by Americans of all political stripes. Under SB822, big phone and cable companies that own the vast majority of networks that deliver Internet service to our residents and businesses would once again be stopped from discriminating against data traveling over their networks.

ISPs would be barred from charging certain sites and content extra, implementing data caps that would increase monthly Internet bills, or deliberately slowing down traffic from their competitors, or from specific websites or applications.

SB822 would ensure that our shared values of fairness, choice and competition remain intact on the Internet in California. With 95 percent of the U.S. broadband market being served by just six corporations, the protections provided by SB822 are vital to the California economy, consumer choice and free speech.

I fear that without regulation, ISPs will abuse their power in anticompetitive ways that will harm consumers and businesses. They have done it before. We simply cannot trust that they are “committed” to a fair and open Internet. Actions speak louder than words.

Allowing ISPs and corporate interests to treat data, content and websites as they wish is not in the best interest of San Francisco and California. Wiener’s SB822 clearly is. That is why I am supporting the bill and publicly calling on ISPs serving San Francisco and California to do the same. If they are committed to a fair and open Internet, they should prove it by supporting SB822.

Mark Farrell is the mayor of San Francisco.