Recently, the California Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees held their suspense committee hearings where they quickly dispensed with bills that are keyed fiscal and given a high price tag.

In the Assembly, any bill with a fiscal effect in any fiscal year of $150,000 or more will be placed on the suspense file. In the Senate, a bill is typically placed on the suspense file if its estimated cost to the General Fund is $50,000 or more, or $150,000 or more to a special fund.  Bills can either pass out of committee as is, be amended, or be held in committee — meaning that bill is not moving forward.

Between both committees, legislators voted on roughly 700 bills. See below for the suspense outcomes on priority bills to California’s Credit Unions. Please note that amendments for bills are usually not in print until over the weekend.

Credit Union Victories

• Assembly Bill 446 (Ward) Surveillance Pricing — passed committee today with amendments to narrow its scope to apply only to grocery establishments among other changes related to loyalty programs. The league will analyze amendments and go from there. These amendments could remove league opposition.
• Assembly Bill 322 (Ward) Precise Geolocation Information — was made a two-year bill and will not be moving forward this year. AB 322 would have set an arbitrarily short limit on how long a business could retain precise geolocation. This would have inhibited a credit union’s ability to investigate fraud or detect potentially fraudulent activity in an account.

Bills Moving Forward

The following bills were voted off the suspense file. There next stop will be for a full vote of the house.

A bill amended in its second house will be sent back to its house of origin for a vote to concur with the amendments.

• Assembly Bill 1018 (Bauer-Kahan) Automated Decision Systems — passed committee today without any amendments. As written, AB 1018 will result in significant ongoing costs to the state as well as business of every size. The league will continue working with a broad coalition of businesses and industries to defeat this bill on the Senate floor.
• Assembly Bill 1331 (Elhawary) Workplace Surveillance — legislation passed with amendments to significantly narrow its scope. The league will review amendments once they are available and determine next steps.
• Senate Bill 7 (McNerney) Employment Automated Decision Systems — passed out of committee with amendments to strike the appeals process, narrow employer obligations and add a collective bargaining element among other changes. The league will review amendments once they are available.

California’s Credit Unions is entering the final stretch of the California legislative year. The legislature adjourns on September 12, and any bills not passed by 11:59 p.m. on that evening will be held over until January.

At the close of session, Governor Gavin Newsom has 30 days to sign or veto a bill. If he takes no action, the bill automatically becomes law.