A California bill that would allow state departments to accept cryptocurrency payments has approved the state assembly with a unanimous vote.
On June 2, California legislators approved the bill of Assembly 1180 (AB 1180) with a 68-0 vote during their third reading. The bill, presented by the Member of the Avelino Valencia Assembly, now advances to the state Senate for its greater consideration.
If promulgated, the legislation would require the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation to establish regulations that allow state rates and transactions under the Digital Financial Assets Law paid in digital currencies.
The bill proposes a pilot program that would be executed until January 1, 2031, with a complete implementation scheduled to begin on July 1, 2026, when approaching Governor Gavin Newsom.
Under AB 1180, the DFPI would also be responsible for sending a report detailing the number and types of processed cryptographic transactions, as well as any technical or regulatory problem found by the program, before January 1, 2028.
Digital financial assets under DFAL are defined as any digital value representation used as a means of exchange that is not legal.
With this, regulators hope to align California with other states such as Florida, Colorado and Louisiana, which already allow cryptographic payments for certain government services.
Before passing the assembly, AB 1180 had several amendments. A key review of the bill eliminated the language with respect to shared travel companies and personal vehicles used for transport services, reducing the bill to the transactions of digital assets under DFAL.
AB 1180 is expected to complement AB 1052, another bill focused on cryptographic introduced by Valencia, which would protect the use of digital assets in private transactions and improved the right to self -constall cryptofugo.
AB 1052 was approved in a committee of the Assembly with a vote of 11-0 on May 23 and is waiting for its third reading. It would prohibit public entities from restricting or taxing digital assets only depending on their use as a form of payment, if approved.
Other measures include preventing state and local governments from imposing limitations on autosted hardware or wallets, as well as provisions related to unlawful digital property and the participation of public officials with digital assets.
California has seen a growing interest in cryptographic policy in the midst of the growing political support for digital assets, with figures such as state senator Ben, all pressing for pro-Crypto representation within the government.
The support of the electorate also seems to be updating. An February survey commissioned by Coinbase found that almost four out of every five cryptography holders in the state would vote for candidates with pro-Crypto platforms.
