A bill for the creation of a blockchain study group was approved by both houses of the California legislature.
California Steps Up
California has always had a historical prominence on the tech industry in the U.S., however when it comes to the digital industry and the blockchain, California has stepped far behind and is now looking to make up for the delay. Moreover, the state is now seeking to research the potential applicability of the blockchain technology for its own use as well as becoming the next blockchain Silicon Valley.
Despite its dominance, California wasn’t fast enough to create legislation that would beneficiate blockchain technology. But now, both houses of the California legislature, on Monday, have approved a new bill – AB2658 which is about to break apart all legislative hurdles and will help the development of blockchain projects in the state.
The bill was first presented in May 2018, but only now the California legislature houses approved the bill. Nevertheless, this is still not the final step as the Governor will still have a last appreciation and will need to ultimately approve the bill.
The AB2658 specifies that:
“Existing law, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, specifies that a record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form and that a contract may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because an electronic record was used in its formation.”
Legislation to Attract Blockchain-Based Businesses
The state of California is also debating a bill to amend its corporate code. The bill specifies that the distributed ledger technology is a recognized tool for maintaining corporate records. This bill is being evaluated and already had a third reading of the bill three weeks ago. California is also considered a bill that would impose certain businesses to obtain licenses related to cryptocurrency, but this one wasn’t accepted.
Lately, there are a few states that are competing to become home of the next digital revolution and take the place of Silicon Valley as the main Hub for this new digital endeavor.
These are California, Wyoming, Colorado, Delaware, Nevada, Ohio, and Tennessee. To keep their eyesight in line with these intentions, both states have been passing on legislation which was designed to attract and incite blockchain businesses and initiatives.
The legislation approved is bringing on bills that that are following a few broad categories: prohibiting taxation of blockchains which were introduced by both Nevada and Wyoming; amending the state’s electronic transfers law or corporate code passed on by the Delaware and Ohio states, and/or creating a working group to create a report on the issue which is being approved by the state of Connecticut.
The AB2658 bill can be fit into the last category in use in the state of Connecticut, which refers to the creation of a working group that will be responsible for researching and reporting to the legislature “the potential uses, risks, and benefits of the use of blockchain technology by state government and California-based businesses.”
The proposed group would comprise of 17 members which would come from both the private sector and the government, and would have to deliver its report by July 2020.
