Update: Special Session of Appropriations Committee Saves Washington Privacy Act for Another Week

There was a special executive session of the House Appropriations Committee on around two hours notice yesterday evening to consider 2SSB 5376 – the Washington Privacy Act. It was the last day for a bill to be referred out of the Appropriations Committee for a floor vote.

The Appropriations Committee decided to allow the Washington Privacy Act a few more days with the hope that a consensus can be reached on the text of a bill that can be passed. The last scheduled session of the Appropriations Committee the day before on Monday saw it conclude without a vote on the Washington Privacy Act.

This isn’t the standard bill process. There appears to still be uncertainty around the text of the bill to put forth for a vote on the House floor.

The session on Tuesday included a briefing on the proposed amendments and then proceeded to a debate and vote on two of them. The first contained an amended version of the Senate bill. The second amended the Senate bill to a title only bill in a procedural move to beat the Appropriations Committee deadline and give the House a few more days to reach consensus. The latter was successful.

The Appropriations Committee voted to reject an amended version similar to the Senate bill which passed 46-1. The bill was characterized by the Ranking Republican Member of the Committee as an appropriate balance between enhancing consumer rights and not unduly burdening businesses. He also defended it as something that has had substantial support internally within the Committee at various points. In a sign of the complexity of the process that is happening in Washington state, the original sponsor of this amendment actually spoke against it before the Committee. He said there wasn’t sufficient agreement between stakeholders for any particular path at this time, and there was no vehicle which could gain sufficient support to move forward.

The plan for the title only bill which ultimately received a do pass recommendation from the Committee is to continue the discussion with stakeholders for the next few days while the title only bill sits in the Rules Committee. If they can gain agreement on a version that can pass the House, they will move forward with that language. It was characterized as a process move and not a statement on the merits of any of the proposed amendments.

The Ranking Republican Member urged a no vote on the striking amendment and characterized it as a “stunning” move that dismissed months of work on one bill that passed the Senate nearly unanimously and another that passed through the ITED committee. He said that it is the first time that he has seen serious effort on a bill amended to a title only bill three-quarters through the process. He also indicated that he was disappointed that the Senate bill didn’t get a vote when there seemed to be support for it and that the likely result was that there wouldn’t be a bill.

So what is the future of the Washington Privacy Act? It appears the plan is to reengage stakeholders over the next week in the hope of reaching a consensus version.

Other Relevant Posts:

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Texas Considers Consumer Privacy Act and Privacy Protection Act
Update: Special Session of Appropriations Committee Saves Washington Privacy Act for Another Week
No Washington Privacy Act This Year?
Washington Privacy Act – Initial Look at the Current House Version
Summary of Connecticut SB 1108 on Data Privacy
Summary of Public Hearings on Maryland Online Consumer Protection Act
Summary of Washington Privacy Act After State Senate Passes
Florida Legislature Considers Biometric Information Privacy Act
Maryland Considering SB613 / HB0901 – Online Consumer Protection Act
With SD341, Massachusetts Joins States Considering CCPA-like Data Privacy Laws
Public Hearing on Washington Privacy Act (SSB 5376) in Senate Ways & Means – More Work to Be Done?
State CCPA Privacy Bills in Rhode Island, Hawaii and New Jersey
North Dakota Considers Study on Privacy Practices of Data Brokers

More Resources:

Read the resources Clarip has posted on the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and contact us to see a demo of the Clarip privacy management platform used by Fortune 500 clients.