A California bill that would have restricted the ability of internet service providers to collect and sell consumer information without permission died early Saturday amid a strong lobbying push from telecommunications and tech companies to stop the privacy measure.

The legislation, AB 375, was nearly identical to the privacy rules the Federal Communications Commission adopted in 2016 but later were repealed by the Trump administration. Privacy and consumer groups had hoped approval of the legislation in California would pave the way for at least 20 other states that are considering similar rules.

But the bill never came up for a vote on the Senate floor, with leaders offering no explanation.

“Congrats to Google, Facebook, Comcast, and AT&T's lobbyists on denying a vote on AB 375 to prevent Californians from regaining their privacy,” Ernesto Falcon, legislative counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, tweeted early Saturday. “This fight will not be going away,” Falcon wrote.

AB 375 would have required broadband service providers to obtain subscriber consent before using or selling data that identified the sites they visited or the apps they downloaded. It also would have prohibited companies from offering a discount to customers who consented or charging a surcharge to those who did not.

The bill earlier survived three committee votes this summer. But it became bottled up in the Senate Rules Committee, chaired by house leader Kevin de Leon, for almost two months. AT&T, Verizon, Google and numerous business trade groups—all major legislative donors with a large lobbying corps in Sacramento—complained the bill's provisions were unworkable.

AB 375 was released to the Senate floor Friday but house leaders never called it for a vote.

The bill's author, Assemblyman Ed Chau, D-Monterey Park, could pursue similar legislation when lawmakers return to work in January.

“It is extremely disappointing that the California legislature failed to restore broadband privacy rights for residents in this state in response to the Trump Administration and Congressional efforts to roll back consumer protection,” Falcon said in a blog post Saturday. “Californians will continue to be denied the legal right to say no to their cable or telephone company using their personal data for enhancing already high profits.”

Ajit Pai, the FCC chairman, in April praised President Trump's repeal of the Obama-era privacy rules that the California bill would have mirrored.

“President Trump and Congress have appropriately invalidated one part of the Obama-era plan for regulating the Internet,” said Pai, a former Jenner & Block partner and, earlier, an in-house lawyer at Verizon Communications Inc. “Those flawed privacy rules, which never went into effect, were designed to benefit one group of favored companies, not online consumers.”

Pai said then the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission would work together “to restore the FTC's authority to police Internet service providers' privacy practices.”

A California bill that would have restricted the ability of internet service providers to collect and sell consumer information without permission died early Saturday amid a strong lobbying push from telecommunications and tech companies to stop the privacy measure.

The legislation, AB 375, was nearly identical to the privacy rules the Federal Communications Commission adopted in 2016 but later were repealed by the Trump administration. Privacy and consumer groups had hoped approval of the legislation in California would pave the way for at least 20 other states that are considering similar rules.

But the bill never came up for a vote on the Senate floor, with leaders offering no explanation.

“Congrats to Google, Facebook, Comcast, and AT&T's lobbyists on denying a vote on AB 375 to prevent Californians from regaining their privacy,” Ernesto Falcon, legislative counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, tweeted early Saturday. “This fight will not be going away,” Falcon wrote.

AB 375 would have required broadband service providers to obtain subscriber consent before using or selling data that identified the sites they visited or the apps they downloaded. It also would have prohibited companies from offering a discount to customers who consented or charging a surcharge to those who did not.

The bill earlier survived three committee votes this summer. But it became bottled up in the Senate Rules Committee, chaired by house leader Kevin de Leon, for almost two months. AT&T, Verizon, Google and numerous business trade groups—all major legislative donors with a large lobbying corps in Sacramento—complained the bill's provisions were unworkable.

AB 375 was released to the Senate floor Friday but house leaders never called it for a vote.

The bill's author, Assemblyman Ed Chau, D-Monterey Park, could pursue similar legislation when lawmakers return to work in January.

“It is extremely disappointing that the California legislature failed to restore broadband privacy rights for residents in this state in response to the Trump Administration and Congressional efforts to roll back consumer protection,” Falcon said in a blog post Saturday. “Californians will continue to be denied the legal right to say no to their cable or telephone company using their personal data for enhancing already high profits.”

Ajit Pai, the FCC chairman, in April praised President Trump's repeal of the Obama-era privacy rules that the California bill would have mirrored.

“President Trump and Congress have appropriately invalidated one part of the Obama-era plan for regulating the Internet,” said Pai, a former Jenner & Block partner and, earlier, an in-house lawyer at Verizon Communications Inc. “Those flawed privacy rules, which never went into effect, were designed to benefit one group of favored companies, not online consumers.”

Pai said then the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission would work together “to restore the FTC's authority to police Internet service providers' privacy practices.”