With job losses at historic highs, Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon, D-Whittier, raised the possibility that California could face a larger budget deficit and deeper recession than it did in 2008 – prospects sure to occupy the Legislature, which per the state Constitution must approve a 2020-2021 Fiscal Year state budget by June 15. Calderon and Berkeley City Councilman Ben Bartlett were among those discussing how public and private sector leaders can help ensure forward momentum on blockchain as the working group crafts policy recommendations to the Legislature amid deadlines.
“The need is going to be so magnified that politically, you’re going to have to show some kind of results,” said Bartlett, emphasizing blockchain’s potential to do just that, at Wednesday's Zoom meeting of the Blockchain Regulatory Subcommittee of the California Blockchain Working Group. "Even if we’re in a depression, the government will still have to demonstrate that it’s responding to the people’s needs," Bartlett said.
Among the takeaways:
• Don’t think too big at first, Calderon said. Legislation that’s “too all-encompassing too quickly” may draw a lot of attention, create questions and doubt in the minds of lawmakers – and not get passed, said the Assemblyman, who indicated that he won't seek re-election in November. He recommended a tiered approach to amending or changing existing statute.
“You want to start small and grow. Especially within government,” he said.
• Keep recommendations simple. The group’s report on policy recommendations to the Legislature is due July 1 and must include potential uses, risks and benefits to government and business, and amendments to existing law that could be impacted by blockchain’s deployment. The more complicated the group’s recommendations are, the more difficult it may be to get policies passed, said Calderon, co-chairman of the California Legislative Technology and Innovation Caucus.
The Legislature, which adjourned March 20 as the pandemic took hold, is expected to reconvene on Monday. It should get the May Revision of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed state budget by mid-month and will have roughly six weeks to approve a state budget.
• Address the most immediate needs first, i.e.,: “What do we need to do right now?” Don’t reinvent the wheel, but take it slow at first. The subcommittee lacked a quorum, but Calderon reminded those present that the pandemic will “significantly impact the work of this group long-term and where the Legislature’s head is going to be.”
“Any way it can tie in to relevancy of the holes we’re seeing in our healthcare system, the holes that we’re seeing when it comes to the need for this type of technology to fill, that … helps and that’s where a lot of wins are going to come from,” Calderon said.
• Keep data protection laws or statutes front-of-mind when thinking about blockchain policy recommendations and how they might one day be implemented, said Charlie Loudon, a Capital Senate Fellow working in the office of Senate Majority Leader Robert Hertzberg, a member of the working group.
With the state’s “vast privacy landscape,” Loudon said, “you need to make sure any blockchain technology is in compliance with that.”
