SACRAMENTO, California — The state lawmaker behind a measure targeting the airport security screening service CLEAR pulled the bill Monday, ending a much-debated proposal that ignited conversations over equity and government overreach.
California State Sen. Josh Newman, a Democrat, confirmed to POLITICO that he was planning to remove the bill hours before it would have come up in an Assembly committee. Newman said the committee's chair planned to vote against the bill following a significant carve-out for airlines.
Originally, the bill would have effectively banned the company and other third-party security screening vendors from California airports unless they got their own dedicated security lane. Such a move would involve federal approval.
Newman had hoped the bill would make flying a more equitable experience. When the Orange County senator introduced the measure earlier this year, he said travelers shouldn't have to "suffer the indignity of somebody pushing you out of the way to let the rich person pass you."
The bill had the backing of labor unions representing flight attendants and TSA agents but faced steep industry opposition from airports and airlines.
Opponents said the bill wouldn't eliminate the hierarchy of passengers by their ability to pay for preferential treatment, as it would still allow elite travelers to skip the line.
“He is fine exempting first class passengers and other million mile type level passengers, but passengers that have CLEAR are not okay,” Jim Lites, executive director of the California Airports Council, told POLITICO in an email. “Of course, many CLEAR passengers are not flying first class at all …. a hypocritical twist on the concern CLEAR creates haves and have nots.”
The measure was watered down in April in the Senate Transportation Committee to only restrict CLEAR from expanding to new airports, temporarily removing the security firm's opposition. But CLEAR went back to opposing the bill after Newman in June carved out an exception to allow airlines to have priority lanes or other services.
CLEAR, in a letter last week to Assembly Transportation Chair Lori Wilson, claimed that the airline carve-out would isolate the company and put it at a competitive disadvantage.
“Although the author claims this bill is about equity, as opposed to targeting any specific company, the most recent amendments would exempt other priority lanes and lines – such as those for first-class passengers – without restriction,” wrote Jessica Ng, CLEAR’s director of state and local public affairs.
Assembly Transportation Committee staff also noted concerns over whether airports have the authority to control allocation of TSA agents or to create a dedicated security lane.
"Even if TSA did grant a public airport enough TSA agents to staff a dedicated CLEAR lane, the dedicated TSA agent could not help with screening the non-CLEAR security lanes without violating the provisions of this bill," staff wrote.
In a statement, CLEAR spokesperson Ricardo Quinto said that the company will "remain committed to operating in California without interruption and will always welcome opportunities to collaborate and have robust discussions with local, state and federal governments to ensure all travelers have a safer, easier checkpoint experience."
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