On June 11, 2020, California budget negotiators tabled
California Governor Gavin Newsom's proposal to create a state
version of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
("mini-CFPB"). As discussed in a
previous Jones Day alert, Governor Newsom put forward this
proposal to create a stand-alone agency to "fill the
void" created by a perceived rollback of federal
regulations.
While no official reason was provided for shelving the
mini-CFPB, the decision was likely due in part to the necessity of
prioritizing more pressing items related to the COVID-19 pandemic,
as well as concerns about creating the mini-CFPB through the budget
process. On the latter issue, California's Legislative
Analyst's Office recommended
that the mini-CFPB be removed from the budget altogether. It argued
that the legislature was better suited for the task of creating the
mini-CFPB because policy committee vetting would "better
position the Legislature to determine which policies should
