ALBANY - The Trump administration's move to deregulate the internet has prompted a group of New York lawmakers to seek measures that would cause internet service providers to lose their state government contracts for altering the speed or connections for various users.

Sponsored by Albany Democratic Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy and Rockland Independent Democratic Conference member David Carlucci, the bill is one of several efforts nationwide to counter Trump's Federal Communications Commission repeal of net neutrality.

"This is about keeping a free and open internet," Fahy said.

The 2015 net-neutrality rule instituted in the Obama administration ensured that internet service providers or ISPs, such as Charter Communications or Verizon cable would charge the same rate for all of the content they carry. Under that concept the cost to carry a photo from a website or a streaming video movie from a company like Netflix, remained the same.

The Obama administration sought to institute price controls for ISPs, which have been viewed similarly to public utilities.

The Trump FCC, though, said lifting the price restrictions would encourage more investment since providers could earn greater profits by charging more for content that requires increased bandwidth.

“Charter supports an open internet because we believe delivering superior broadband to our customers is an essential ingredient to growing our business,” Charter Communications said in a prepared statement. “Without an open internet, that isn’t possible.”

Others say that state-by-state regulations could lead to an inconsistent regulatory system which could inhibit innovation and make enforcement difficult. They say rules should only be changed on the federal level.

“This, rather than a patchwork of state and local government approaches is what is needed,” according to the Cable Telecommunications Association of New York, an industry trade group.

Net neutrality supporters, though, said the deregulation, which takes effect later this year, opens the door to higher prices.

The fear is that the higher charges would be passed on to consumers, or result in the comparative slowing of connections for those content providers who don't pay more.

Because states can’t override the FCC, lawmakers in several places are looking at alternate ways to maintain net neutrality on a state level.

The Fahy/Carlucci bill would do this by banning state and local government contracts with ISPs that don’t adhere to net neutrality.

“It’s the power of the New York purse,” Fahy said.

That concept has already taken hold in Montana where Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock on Monday enacted an executive order banning state contracts with ISPs that don’t pledge net neutrality.

California lawmakers are looking at similar measures.

And attorneys general in 21 states, including New York and the District of Columbia, are suing to block the repeal of net neutrality.

In addition to state contracts, the bills proposed in California and New York could also allow local towns, which often have franchise contracts with ISPs, to enforce net neutrality.

Outside government, the net neutrality debate has pitted giant ISPs like Charter Communications or Verizon against content providers who fear they could be charged more for transmitting some of their products.

That fear is especially acute among smaller organizations or startups trying to gain a foothold in the on-line world.

“It’s already had a negative impact on our business,” said Richard Zack, CEO of our.news, a Troy startup that lets people log in to an eponymous website where users check the veracity of various news stories.

Investors in Zack’s fledgling firm, which employs four, are unsure how the loss of neutrality could impact the business, he said.

If an ISP charges more for additional speed of bandwidth, the website would have to decide whether to live with the slower connection or pay more, which could be passed on to consumers.

School districts are increasingly relying on internet services for instructional tools, and local libraries provide computer access to a large number of New Yorkers who do not have online services due to the costs.

“We are walling people off from being participants in their own lives,” said Mike Neppl of the state Libraries Association.

Libraries, he said, serve lots of people who use the internet for a range of reasons, from applying for jobs to securing health care coverage.

rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU