Coin Laundry Association President and CEO Brian Wallace, CLA Board Chair Brian Holland, and a group of influential Southern California laundromat owners are scheduled to meet with California State Assemblymember Tina McKinnor on November 7 at Coast Laundry in Hawthorne, Calif.
This meeting comes on the heels of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent veto of McKinnor’s bill – AB 1628 – which originally had sought to require all new washing machines sold in California for state, residential, and commercial use be fitted with microfiber filtration systems by January 1, 2029.
Given the potentially devastating impact of this legislation on laundromat owners and their customers, CLA engaged lobbying firm KP Public Affairs to represent the industry’s interests in Sacramento. Through an aggressive advocacy campaign, CLA and its lobbying partners were able to convince the lawmakers that commercial washers must be differentiated from residential washers – thus, the Senate Appropriations Committee agreed to adopt a CLA-proposed amendment to strike commercial washers from the bill entirely.
“We were completely removed from the legislation,” Wallace noted. “After passing the full Senate vote and going back to the Assembly for concurrence and passing, the bill went to Gov. Newsom’s desk for his signature.”
In an unexpected turn of events, Newsom vetoed the bill, citing costs to consumers and the need for further research.
In his veto letter to the state assembly, the governor wrote:
“I am concerned that this bill will increase costs to consumers in advance of further research being completed and establishing the public policy rationale and details for new residential requirements. In the interim, I encourage the author to consider alternative approaches to incentivize, rather than mandate, the use of filters or other technologies that could remove microfibers in wastewater.”
“I believe the governor’s veto is a good outcome for the present, but it also may increase the possibility of the bill coming back next year, since the legislation’s sponsors didn’t get all they had hoped for,” said Wallace, explaining the critical nature of the upcoming meeting with McKinnor and her team. “CLA is engaged with its lobbying partners to map out a strategy for the next 15 months to monitor developments and make an effort to proactively engage in conversations with the bill’s sponsors about what the laundromat industry is willing to do to create a positive impact for all on the microfiber issue. Going forward, we also want to develop a plan for a strong grassroots engagement from the laundromat industry in California.”
