AB-1326: California bitcoin regulatory bill inactive

AB-1326, “Virtual Currency”, was unexpectedly shelved earlier this week despite multiple unanimous or near-unanimous votes in the California Assembly and Senate. The bill, which would have governed how digital currency businesses can operate in California, was lauded by many in the industry as a favorable compromise. Bitcoin advocacy group, Coin Center, championed the bill despite public objections from both the Bitcoin Foundation and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Ostensibly, the bill would have applied the rough equivalent of existing money transmission laws to bitcoin. This was a far cry from the original draft which appeared to mimic the BitLicense in terms of scope and (over)reach. Reportedly, the bill was amended to include additional reporting requirements as recently as a few weeks ago. However, officially, the measure failed to pass by the September 11th legislative deadline for all 2015-16 bills.