California: Card law veto message was routine

SACRAMENTO – A coalition of NAFCU, CUNA, several banking associations and several national credit card issuers trying to stifle the State of California’s pending credit card disclosure law have misunderstood a routine administrative opinion, according to briefs filed by the state in the case. The opinion has no relevance to the state’s position on the law, it argued. The opinion, developed by the state’s banking authority, reportedly argued for the governor vetoing the measure. The coalition asked to see the opinion as part of the discovery process. But the state refused and the plaintiffs have appealed believing that, should the document be entered into the court record, it could substantially support their case. But the state argued in its most recent brief that the document in question is not extraordinary and does not represent the banking department’s opinion at the time or currently. “Obviously, we can’t be sure what is in the documents until we see them. But it would be interesting to see the grounds on which an agency of the California state government was prepared to attack this legislation,” said Eric Richard, CUNA’s General Counsel. The court will decide the case December 6.