The Bad Washington Privacy Act has been defeated! Thank you to everybody who got involved!

The Washington legislature adjourned for the session today without taking any action on the Bad Washington Privacy Act, SB 5062 … a huge win for grassroots activism!

This is the third year in a row that the House has rejected tech lobbyists’ attempt to push through a weak, industry-backed “privacy” bill. Thanks to all the legislators involved, especially

• Rep. Shelley Kloba for leading the fight against it, and for introducing first the People’s Privacy Act and then amendments good enough to get the endorsement of a broad array of immigrant rights, civil rights, civl liberties and grassroots activism groups — including Indivisible Plus Washington and 20+ other Indivisible groups.
• House Republicans for voting against SB 5062 in committee, shattering the myth of “consensus”
• Legislators of both parties who stood up to big tech’s bullying and said NO to the illusion of privacy.

And thanks as well to everybody who got involved with the activism. Every phone call, email, and meeting helped make a difference.

At the start of the session everybody thought the Bad Washington Privacy Act was almost certain to pass, and after the Senate 48–1 vote it seemed like a done deal. But once again the Tech Equity Coalition took the lead, and lots of us joined in to help with creative and persistent activism. Now, we’ve now got a huge amount of momentum, and a great opportunity to build on this win to get something strong passed in 2022. Not only that, we’re likely to influence the debate in other states and nationally as well.

So thanks again to everybody for getting involved!