Next Stop for the CCPA Amendments: Senate Floor Vote

The six bills to amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) are through the California Senate Appropriations Committee. The next stop for the potential CCPA amendments – AB25 (employee data), AB846 (loyalty programs), AB874 (publicly available information), AB1146 (vehicle information), AB1355 (technical amendments) and AB1564 (toll free number alternative) – is a floor vote in the Senate.

The six privacy bills were initially listed on the calendar of the Appropriations Committee for the hearing yesterday (August 12, 2019) but were pulled from the online agenda before it started. Instead, all six bills were allowed to bypass the Committee under Senate Rule 28.8.

Senate Rule 28.8 permits “Any bill referred to the Committee on Appropriations pursuant to Joint Rule 10.5 that does not appropriate money may not be set for hearing and shall, along with any nonsubstantive amendments, promptly be reported to the Senate with the recommendation it be placed on second reading if the chair of the committee determines that (a) any additional state costs are not significant and do not and will not require the appropriation of additional state funds, and (b) the bill will cause no significant reduction in revenues.”

AB 874 and AB 1355 have been placed on the Senate’s Consent Calendar. According to the glossary of legislative terms on the California State Legislature website: Bills may be placed upon the Consent Calendar if they are reported to the Floor with that recommendation and (1) have received no “no” votes in committee and (2) have had no opposition expressed by any person present at the hearing. The other four bills will go through the regular legislative process.

There have not been any changes to AB874 and AB1355 since they were approved in the floor vote by the California State Assembly. If they are passed by the Senate, they will go to the California Governor’s desk for signature.

For the four bills with Senate amendments, the State Assembly will be asked for their concurrence in the amendments before it is sent to the Governor. If the Assembly does not approve the amendments, each house appoints three members to a conference committee to consider the bill and seek agreement. Once there is agreement, each house adopts the conference report by a roll-call vote and it is sent to the Governor. If no agreement is reached on the third conference, the bill is dead.

The deadline for the bills to be sent to the California Governor is September 13, 2019.