As Democrats become more politically-dominant in California, it looks like they’re also making inroads with the Golden State’s business lobby.
And it’s not just because the Cal Chamber wants to make nice with the guys in power. It turns out Republicans are pushing bills the Chamber thinks are straight-up giveaways to trial lawyers.
The old Cal Chamber building in San Francisco. Because 1215 K Street, Sacramento, isn’t that scenic.
Via CAL Matters this AM:
Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, a Republican from San Luis Obispo, is pushing Assembly Bill 288 to require social media companies to let users delete information when they close their accounts.
- The chamber worries the bill would lead to lawsuits.
Cunningham: “Frankly, I find it somewhat humorous that the Chamber would waste a designation like this on a bill that would only apply to a few giant social networking companies that continue to prove that they cannot be trusted to adequately protect our personal information.”
Chad Mayes, Republican from Yucca Valley, is carrying AB 1035 to require companies to disclose data breaches within 72 hours.
- The chamber worries it would subject businesses to class-action lawsuits.
Mayes: “In the past, a job killer has always been something I’ve taken very seriously. Now, to think that a job killer is defined by requiring notice to consumers if their personal data has been breached makes me scratch my head.”
Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher of Yuba City is a coauthor of both bills.
Money matters: The chamber donated $30,000 to the California Democratic Party last Wednesday, the day it released the list, and none to the GOP.
It’s getting suckier and suckier to be a Republican in California.
The big question is, does the Democratic Party fracture in two, with the genuine left distinguishing itself more and more from the center-left?
In 2016, a lot of observers expected a two-Democrat gubernatorial general election pitting the more lefty Newsom against the more centrist Villaraigosa. In the end, Villaraigosa failed to deliver as a candidate, which left the left reasonably united.
But the way California is going, and with Donald Trump making “Republican” a dirty word in much of the Golden State, it’s easy to see how that might not last forever.
