Miguel Santiago
Member of the California Assembly
Assumed office
December 1, 2014
Preceded byJohn Pérez
Constituency53rd district (2014–2022)
54th district (2022–present)
Personal details
Born (1973-03-06) March 6, 1973
Los Angeles
NationalityAmerican
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseCelina Santiago
Children2
Residence(s)Los Angeles, California
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
WebsiteOfficial website

Miguel Santiago (born March 6, 1973) is an American politician, currently serving in the California State Assembly, where he serves as chairman of the Communications and Conveyance Committee.[1] Santiago is a Democrat representing the 54th Assembly District, which encompasses parts of Downtown Los Angeles, along with East Hollywood, Boyle Heights, Montebello, Commerce, and Vernon.

Santiago is a member of the California Latino Legislative Caucus.[2] Prior to being elected to the Assembly in 2014, he was a member of the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees.[3] He also served as District Director to former Assembly Speaker John Pérez.[4] He is currently a candidate for Los Angeles City Council, challenging incumbent Kevin De Leon.

Net Neutrality Bill Co-Authorship

Santiago co-authored S.B. 822 alongside Senator Scott Wiener, legislation that would strengthen net neutrality protections in California. Hours after being signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, a Motion for Preliminary Injunction was filed by the Department of Justice. Both parties have agreed to wait until a separate court case in the D.C. Circuit Court is decided before moving on. As part of the agreement, the law is not currently being enforced and the injunction was withdrawn.

After passing the California Senate,[5] S.B. 822 was amended by Miguel Santiago in June 2018.[6] SB-822 would restore Obama-era rules that the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission rolled back in December 2017.[7] Santiago's amendments removed all provisions of the bill's net neutrality protections that were not in the text of the 2015 Open Internet Order, leaving in only those that were in the two-pages of rules.[8] This prompted the bill's original sponsor, Senator Scott Wiener, to pull his support for his own bill and declare that it had been "hijacked" and that he was "not interested in passing a bill that is watered down so severely."[9] The changes also included deleting a large section of definitions, which critics claim could make it more difficult for California's attorney general to prosecute violations of the legislation.[10]

The amendments, published less than 12 hours before the hearing, were approved 8-0[6] by the Communications and Conveyance committee, which Santiago chairs, on June 20, 2018. That vote occurred before Wiener could argue against them and before any testimony. After the testimony, the amended bill was approved 8-2.[11][12] Opponents of the amended version stated that Santiago's changes would create loopholes through which broadband providers could charge fees to content providers while exempting their own content from any data caps.[13][14][15][16] Proponents of the changes contend that without them broadband providers would not be allowed to offer free mobile data that doesn't count against users' caps, harming consumers, and that net neutrality in general would discourage providers from improving their network infrastructure.[17][10] Representatives of major ISPs continue to oppose the bill, even in its amended form.[7]

Santiago received over $60,000 from telecom lobbyists, with AT&T and Comcast being the top telecom contributors, over the course of his assembly career.[18][19] However, Wiener said that despite the "strenuous disagreement here, [...] it’s not about campaign contributions" and that the telecoms "spent a lot of money in California targeting members with Twitter and Facebook ads, doing robo-calls to seniors telling them their bills are going to go up, that this bill is going to make your monthly payment go up. They flooded the capitol with lobbyists."[10]

On June 6, 2018, Santiago released a press statement saying that his amendments were intended to help "deliver a bill that could withstand legal challenges from the telecommunications industry" and that "we ran out of time" to reach an agreement with Wiener. Knowing Wiener would not support the changes, the committee "took action to insert amendments without his consent to keep the bill moving." Santiago expressed regret at the "legislative maneuverings" required to advance the bill and that he does not "envision policy being created in this manner." The public response was intense, and Santiago stated that his family had received threats and that offensive memes smearing his wife and children had been shared online.[20][21]

Electoral history

2014 California State Assembly election, 53rd district
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Miguel Santiago 9,387 56.1
Democratic Sandra Mendoza 3,953 23.6
Democratic Michelle "Hope" Walker 1,964 11.7
Democratic Michael "Mike" Aldapa 1,423 8.5
Total votes 16,727 100.0
General election
Democratic Miguel Santiago 20,472 63.5
Democratic Sandra Mendoza 11,735 36.5
Total votes 32,207 100.0
Democratic hold
2016 California State Assembly election, 53rd district
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Miguel Santiago (incumbent) 22,254 45.1
Democratic Sandra Mendoza 20,388 41.3
Democratic Kevin H. Jang 6,688 13.6
Total votes 49,330 100.0
General election
Democratic Miguel Santiago (incumbent) 50,958 58.2
Democratic Sandra Mendoza 36,583 41.8
Total votes 87,541 100.0
Democratic hold
2018 California State Assembly election, 53rd district
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Miguel Santiago (incumbent) 24,134 69.0
Democratic Kevin Hee Young Jang 5,779 16.5
Libertarian Michael A. Lewis 2,710 7.7
Democratic Rae Elisabeth Henry 2,367 6.8
Total votes 34,990 100.0
General election
Democratic Miguel Santiago (incumbent) 57,388 71.4
Democratic Kevin Hee Young Jang 23,002 28.6
Total votes 80,390 100.0
Democratic hold
2020 California State Assembly election, 53rd district
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Miguel Santiago (incumbent) 35,515 62.9%
Democratic Godfrey Santos Plata 20,923 37.1%
Total votes
Democratic hold

References

  1. ↑ "Welcome to the Committee on Communications and Conveyance - Committee on Communications and Conveyance". acom.assembly.ca.gov.
  2. ↑ "Member Directory - California Latino Legislative Caucus". latinocaucus.legislature.ca.gov.
  3. ↑ "Miguel Santiago". laccd.edu.
  4. ↑ "Miguel Santiago". www.laccd.edu.
  5. ↑ "Bill Votes". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Net Neutrality Backers Fume as California Bill Watered Down - The New York Times". www.nytimes.com. Archived from the original on June 22, 2018.
  7. 1 2 "Lawmaker Changes Cloud Calif. Net Neutrality Bill Outlook". Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Failing the Real Test: SB 822 No Longer Restores All the Lost Net Neutrality Protections". cyberlaw.stanford.edu. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Telecom-Backed Democrat in California Just "Mutilated" Nation's Strongest State Net Neutrality Bill". Common Dreams.
  10. 1 2 3 "California's net neutrality legislation just got watered down in a big way - The Washington Post". The Washington Post.
  11. ↑ "Senator Wiener's Statement on Gutting of Net Neutrality Bill in Assembly Committee". Senator Scott Wiener. June 20, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  12. ↑ Falcon, Ernesto (June 20, 2018). "Corruption at the Assembly Committee Gutted California's Net Neutrality". Electronic Frontier Foundation.
  13. ↑ "Bill Votes". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee - Jun 20th, 2018". calchannel.granicus.com. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  15. ↑ Healey, Jon. "Telecom companies just flexed their muscles and neutered a California net neutrality bill". Los Angeles Times.
  16. ↑ Finley, Klint (June 21, 2018). "California Net Neutrality Bill Was 'Hijacked,' Lawmaker Says". Wired – via www.wired.com.
  17. ↑ "Net neutrality is fine, but don't ban special offers for free broadband data" – via Sacramento Bee.
  18. ↑ "SB 822 - C&C Assembly Contributions". Google Docs.
  19. ↑ "The Voter's Self Defense System".
  20. ↑ "Assemblymember Miguel Santiago Issues Statement on Net Neutrality". Official Website - Assemblymember Miguel Santiago Representing the 53rd California Assembly District. June 22, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  21. ↑ "California lawmaker faces harsh attacks over net neutrality". charlotteobserver. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
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