Landlord-tenant: internet service provider subscriptions.

As proposed by Assembly Member Ransom, with Senator Wiener as a coauthor, the measure would establish a private tenant right to opt out of paying for subscriptions to third-party internet service providers tied to a residential tenancy that begins, renews, or continues on a month-to-month or other periodic basis on or after January 1, 2026. The core change creates a mechanism for tenants to decline ISP charges connected to the tenancy, paired with a rent-deduction remedy if the opt-out is not honored and protections against retaliation for exercising the right.

The bill requires the landlord or their agent to permit the opt-out and clarifies that landlords may still offer bulk-billing arrangements; the opt-out applies to subscriptions for wired, cellular, or satellite services provided in connection with the tenancy, with the definition of internet service provider aligned to the existing statutory definition. If a landlord violates the opt-out provision, the tenant may deduct the subscription cost from rent, subject to the existing retaliation protections recognized in current law.

Applicability is limited to tenancies that are month-to-month or other periodic, and to arrangements commencing, renewing, or continuing on or after January 1, 2026; the bill does not explicitly address fixed-term leases that are not periodic or tenancies begun before 2026 but renewed to periodic status after that date. The measure sits within the broader framework that allows deduction of certain utility payments from rent and references those provisions in its framing.

Implementation considerations include lack of explicit procedural requirements and disputes resolution mechanisms in the text, with no state-supplied appropriation; private enforcement would be expected through rent adjustments and related disputes between tenants and landlords. The change interacts with existing landlord-tenant protections and the current definition of internet service provider used in existing law, potentially shaping how bulk-billing and third-party ISP services are managed in practice.