Since Republicans on the Federal Communications Commission struck down net neutrality, Democrats have been spoiling for a fight at the state level. Now Colorado state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger wants in.

The Democrat from Arvada officially joined the fray Thursday in a letter to state Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, a Republican running for governor, “to help avert an impending telecommunications disaster.”

She urged Coffman to join with other state attorneys general in a lawsuit to push consumer protections on deregulated networks.

Net neutrality was part of an Obama administration order to require internet service providers to treat all websites the same, preventing them from speeding up those sites that pay higher rates while blocking some others.

Republicans contend it was an unnecessary regulation, and the dire things Democrats predict never happened before 2015, when it was enacted by a Democratic FCC majority.

State Reps. Leslie Herod and Chris Hansen, both of Denver, were the first out of the gate last week to say the legislature should look at state consumer protections to preserve equal access for small businesses, reliable speed for internet users and an even playing field on costs for consumers, who might wind up paying more for premium sites such as Netflix or lose reliable speeds for sites such as Youtube.

Washington state has announced plans to do the same.

Zenzinger’s letter states in full:

Dear Attorney General Coffman:

Please add my name to the long list of Colorado residents who would encourage you in your role as Attorney General to help avert an impending telecommunications disaster. I’m talking, of course, about the recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission to end the “net neutrality” that has contributed so much to the economic engines of our state.

More than a dozen other states’ attorneys general have collaborated on a lawsuit that would halt the nation’s movement toward net neutrality, and I urge you to announce that Colorado will join that effort.

As you know, the elimination of net neutrality will essentially turn the Internet into a toll road, with a few large service providers deciding who gets to participate in the digital evolution, at what price, and how fast. Consequently, only the favored, bigger, higher-paying customers will enjoy the Internet’s maximum benefits. In other words, smaller, less affluent individuals and entrepreneurs could find themselves on the outside looking in. We are on the verge of setting up a dichotomy of haves and have-nots. I hate to think how the founders of recent Internet successes such as Uber, Etsy and Airbnb would have fared in their early stages under this new environment imposed by the federal government. Think of the jobs and commerce now generated by those businesses, all of which would have been lost.

Consider also the impact upon our educational efforts in Colorado, as the elimination of net neutrality will magnify the challenges that poor students face, especially in rural areas. If every Colorado student deserves an equal, high-quality education, then they also deserve net neutrality.

Sincerely,Sen. Rachel Zenzinger