On Thursday, the California Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees held their suspense committee hearings, where they quickly dispense 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, pass with amendments, or be held in committee — meaning that bill is dead. Between both committees, over 800 bills were taken up on suspense.

Below are suspense outcomes for California’s Credit Unions’ (CCU) priority bills:

Credit Union Victories

• Assembly Bill 412 (Bauer-Kahan) Generative Artificial Intelligence — Training Data: Copyrighted Materials — This bill, which was held in committee, would have required generative AI developers to document protected materials used among other requirements. CCU was opposed because the definitions were so broad it could have potentially created compliance and litigation risks for credit unions using AI.
• Assembly Bill 801 (Bonta) Nondiscrimination — This bill, originally the State CRA measure that CCU stopped, was amended into a fair lending bill. CCU has remained opposed, but the bill passed with amendments to limit the bill to mortgages, allow exams to be part of current exams, allow the commissioner to wave exams and exempt small institutions – a positive improvement.
• Assembly Bill 1847 (Harabedian) Mortgage Forbearance — State of Emergency (Wildfire) — This bill builds upon last year’s AB 238 for victims of the LA wildfires. The author agreed to limit the extended forbearance and allow for proof of hardship among other changes. We are waiting to see the amendments in print, but they will move CCU to neutral.
• Senate Bill 690 (Caballero) Crimes: Invasion of Privacy — This bill, supported by CCU, passed. It provides relief to businesses from the inundation of CA Invasion of Privacy (CIPA) wiretapping and pen register lawsuits by ensuring that CIPA cannot be misapplied to online activity.
• Senate Bill 784 (Durazo) Home improvement loans: right to cancel contracts — This bill was held, a big win for credit unions. CCU opposed the bill unless amended to exempt the types of products that credit unions provide.

Bills Moving Forward

• Assembly Bill 1542 (Ward) Sensitive Personal Information — This bill passed committee. It would ban the selling or sharing of sensitive personal information (SPI). CCU opposes this bill because it is overly broad and could disrupt routine and lawful data sharing practices that support core internet operations and security.
• Senate Bill 354 (Limón) Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act — This bill passed committee with amendments that would delay implementation until July 2028. It is a broad sweeping insurance privacy bill that touches credit union operations in multiple ways. CCU has secured amendments that would allow for joint marketing agreements as well as limit the impact on credit insurance agents. Once in print, these amendments will mitigate credit union concerns.
• Senate Bill 947 (McNerney) Employment: Automated Decision Systems — This bill, opposed by CCU and other businesses, passed committee. It would affect nearly every aspect of how employers use automated decision systems (ADS) to manage their workforce, including hiring, scheduling, performance reviews, and termination. It is similar to SB 7 (McNerney), which Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed in 2025.
• Senate Bill 951 (Reyes) Employment: technological displacement: notice — This bill, opposed by CCU and other businesses, passed with amendments. It expands the notice an employer must provide under the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (Cal-WARN) for displacement caused by an artificial intelligence system.

The next stop for bills that pass out of the Appropriations Committee is the floor, where they must be acted upon by August 31 at 11:59 p.m.

Governor Gavin Newsom must sign or veto all bills by September 30. After that, California’s Credit Unions will send a full legislative recap for the year.

Questions? Please reach out to Eileen Ricker.