CALIF. PRIVACY BILL DEFEATED

Following a late night debate, the California State Assembly voted to defeat a controversial financial privacy measure that would have given California the most complicated and confusing privacy law in the nation, according to the American Insurance Association (AIA). “This bill would have been unworkable for the industry and would have caused a host of unintended consequences for consumers,” said Bill Gausewitz, AIA assistant vice president, western region. The measure, SB 773, sponsored by Senator Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough), would have created an opt-out system for information sharing among affiliated companies and an opt-in system between non-affiliated companies. “SB 773 was drastically amended this week. But the amendments did not solve the fundamental problems with this bill,” Gausewitz said. “This bill would have disrupted e-commerce, given an unfair competitive advantage to some businesses, and imposed extraordinary new costs on the financial services industry. Despite the defeat of SB 773, the issue of information sharing by the financial services industry will continue to be under debate in California.” The State Assembly voted 32 to 26 to defeat SB 773. The measure needed 41 votes to pass.

Topics California