California news publishers and big tech companies appear to be inching toward an agreement on a controversial bill that would require Google and big social media platforms to pay news outlets for the articles they distribute.
After stalling last year, Assembly Bill 886 cleared a critical hurdle Tuesday when it was approved by the state Senate Judiciary Committee. Several lawmakers described the legislation as a work in progress aimed at solving a critical problem: The news business is shrinking as technology changes the way people consume information.
“I think the market is the best mechanism to regulate the industry,” Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Orange), the committee chairman, said during a hearing on the bill.
However, he said, the disappearance of journalism harms democracy: “Therefore, we have an obligation to find a way to support reasonable and credible journalism.”
The legislation, known as the “California Journalism Preservation Act,” would require digital platforms to pay a fee to media outlets when they sell advertising alongside news content. He calls for the creation of a fund to which technology companies contribute, and that the money be distributed to the media based on the number of journalists they employ. Publishers would have to use 70% of the money they receive to pay journalists in California.
Umberg noted that the bill does not specify an amount for the fund. He said it would be “a very elegant solution” for the parties involved to agree on what the amount should be.
Sen. Henry Stern (D-Calabasas) described the talks as “getting closer to the place where we could actually reach some kind of agreement.”
In Canada, Google is paying $74 million annually to a fund for the news industry under a law similar to the one proposed in California.
Jaffer Zaidi, vice president of global news partnerships at Google, testified against the California proposal during a hearing in which news executives from across the state lined up to express support for the bill, while tech industry lobbyists They lined up in opposition. The bill is sponsored by the California News Publishers Association, of which the Los Angeles Times is a member.
“The bill…would break the fundamental, founding principles of the open Internet, forcing platforms to pay publishers for sending them valuable free traffic,” Zaidi said.
“It puts the entire burden of support on one or two companies, while protecting many other large platforms that also link to news from California publishers.”
He said Google had shared a proposal for a different way to support journalism “through specific programs” that would be funded by more companies than just the largest platforms. The current version of the bill would apply only to Google and Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook.
“We hope this can serve as a foundation for a viable path forward together,” Zaidi said. “We remain committed to being here and working constructively to achieve a result.”
The bill's author, Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), said she is “aggressively trying to engage” with companies that oppose the bill in hopes that the warring parties can reach an agreement. that allows the news industry to thrive.
“At the end of the day, I want the best solution to the problem,” Wicks said.
He closed the hearing by talking about the role journalism has played in exposing the issues that lawmakers end up tackling on Capitol Hill, such as crafting new laws to extend the statute of limitations on sexual abuse lawsuits after the Times investigation revealed a pattern of accusations against George Tyndall, a former USC gynecologist.
The bill now advances to the Senate Appropriations Committee. It will go to Gov. Gavin Newsom if both chambers of the Legislature approve it by Aug. 31.
