On Tuesday, Democrats in the House Appropriations Committee stripped Democrat Sen. Reuven Carlyle’s consumer-data protection bill (SB 5376) down to its title only, before passing it out of committee on a party-line vote.

House Republicans offered an amendment to restore the bipartisan, pro-consumer language that passed the Senate 46-1, but every Democrat on the committee voted to reject the amendment. The Democrats’ political maneuvering drew strong opposition from House Republicans, who viewed the Democrats’ title-only bill as a step backward in protecting the privacy rights of Washingtonians.

After the bill was gutted, House Republican budget lead, Rep. Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, released the following statement:

“This was a deeply disappointing abuse of process by majority House Democrats. Not only did they hastily convene an unscheduled committee meeting with just 2 hours’ notice, they proceeded to completely strip all the thoughtful, well-worked policy provisions from the bill and use their political power to force an empty ‘title only’ bill to the floor. With just 19 days left in session, we should be perfecting bills, not starting from scratch. Thanks to last night’s decision by the majority, it’s now highly unlikely that the Legislature will be able to enact any meaningful safeguards for our constituent’ personal data.”

To watch Rep. Stokesbary’s speech in committee requesting a “no” vote on the striking amendment click the photo below.

The 2019 legislative session is scheduled to adjourn April 28.