The City Council hearing starts at 2:00 and as we all have seen, industry is lobbying up a storm. They used the same tactics to kill a similar bill in California a couple of weeks ago, in Maryland they completely gutted the bill’s protections, and elsewhere they’ve been able to weaken enforcement. Along with public comment, a wave of calls and emails to councilors is the best response.
Public comment will probably start at 2:00 pm. You can sign up to participate remotely an hour before the hearing, or in-person once you get there. You can also send written comments to [council@seattle.gov](mailto:council@seattle.gov). Details here.
If you want to call, please do! It really makes a difference when phones are ringing off the hook. Phone numbers and a district finder are on the Seattle City Council page.
There are also some good email-based actions, including
- Tell Seattle City Council to ban surveillance pricing — and reject all amendments that add loopholes, weaken enforcement, and carve in surveillance technologies from Washington Privacy Organizer, with a link you can click to bring up a draft email you can customize
- Reject the dangerous “loss prevention” amendment and pass a clean Fair & Transparent Pricing Ordinance! from Washington AI Resistance and WA People’s Privacy
- Protect Working Families from Corporate Price-Gouging & Surveillance from Transit Riders Union, Lavender Rights Project, Queer Power Alliance, WA People Power, and WA Working Families party
EDIT: u/Inevitable_Engine186 helpfully shared this link to the bill and all the amendments in a comment, and I realized I should have included it here. So now I have!
Also, there’s an analysis of most of the amendments in a comment here.
submitted by /u/jon_pincus
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