American Bankers Ass'n v. Lockyer
American Bankers Ass'n v. Lockyer
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by Judge GRABER; Dissent by Judge WALLACE.
This case comes before us for the second time. See Am. Bankers Ass’n v. Gould, 412 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir. 2005). In 2003, the California State Legislature enacted the California Financial Information Privacy Act (“SB1”), Cal. Fin.Code §§ 4050-4060, “for financial institutions to provide their consumers notice and meaningful choice about how consumers’ nonpublic personal information is shared or sold by their financial institutions,” id. § 4051(a). Plaintiffs American Bankers Association, The Financial Services Roundtable, and Consumer Bankers Association filed suit, alleging that the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681-1681x, preempted SBl’s regulation of information sharing between financial institutions and their affiliates.
Previously, we held that the affiliate-sharing preemption clause of the FCRA, 15 U.S.C. § 16811(b)(2),
On remand, the district court held that no portion of section 4053(b)(1) survives preemption and that, even if a portion did survive, the court lacked the power to sever the preempted applications. Accordingly, the court enjoined enforcement of section 4053(b)(1) “to the extent [that it is] preempted by 15 U.S.C. [§ ] 1681t(b)(2),” which, the court ruled, meant the statute in its entirety. On de novo review, Silvas v. E*Trade Mortgage Corp., 514 F.3d 1001, 1004 (9th Cir. 2008) (preemption); Aria. Libertarian Party, Inc. v. Bayless, 351 F.3d 1277, 1283 (9th Cir. 2003) (per curiam) (severability), we reverse and remand. We hold that section 4053(b)(1) has non-preempted applications and that California law requires that we reform section 4053(b)(1) to sever its preempted applications.
As a preliminary matter, Plaintiffs argue that, under our prior mandate, no “portion” of section 4053(b)(1) survives preemption because no physically distinct segment of the statute “applies only to information that falls outside the FCRA preemption clause.” We reject such a hyper-technical reading of our mandate. The previous panel was aware of, and indeed quoted from, the text of SB1 regulating “ ‘nonpublic personal information.’ ” Am. Bankers Ass’n, 412 F.3d at 1085 (quoting Cal. Fin.Code § 4053(b)(1)). If the question were whether a physically distinct segment of the statute could be severed, the previous panel never would have remanded the case, because the answer is obvious. The panel would have held that, striking “nonpublic personal information” from the statute, no part of the statute survives preemption. But the panel did not so hold. Instead, the panel remanded to determine whether the statute survives beyond “the extent that it applies” to consumer report information as defined by the FCRA. Id. at 1087. In other words, we remanded to determine whether SB1 section 4053(b)(1) applies to non-consumer report information and, if so, whether California law allows its application to consumer report information to be severed from the statute.
Plaintiffs concede that SB1 has non-preempted applications.
Thus, this appeal turns on whether narrowing section 4053(b)(1) to exclude the regulation of consumer report information would effectuate the intent of the California Legislature and whether the Legislature would have preferred the narrowed statute to no statute at all.
As part of SB1, the Legislature included “Legislative intent” and “Legislative findings” provisions. Cal. Fin.Code §§ 4051, 4051.5. The Legislature stated that, in enacting SB1, it “intends for financial institutions to provide their consumers notice and meaningful choice about how consumers’ nonpublic personal information is shared or sold by their financial institutions.” Id. § 4051(a). The Legislature also stated that its intent in passing SB1 was “[t]o further achieve ... control for California consumers by providing consumers with the ability to prevent the sharing of financial information among affiliated companies through a simple opt-out mechanism via a clear and understandable notice provided to the consumer.” Id. § 4051.5(b)(3). A narrowed version of section 4053(b)(1) would effectuate those statements of intent because it still would enable consumers “to prevent the sharing of financial information” — their non-consumer report financial information.
Those statements by the Legislature also demonstrate that it would have preferred a narrowed version of section 4053(b)(1) to no version at all. The Legislature enacted SB1 to protect consumers’ financial information by giving consumers notice of, and control over, disclosure of that information. A narrowed version would advance this purpose with respect to financial affiliates, albeit to a lesser extent than the Legislature originally expected. By contrast, wholesale invalidation would not protect at all the sharing of consumer information with affiliates.
In addition, the Legislature included a severability clause in its enactment of SB1: “The provisions of this division shall be severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, or provision is declared to be invalid or is preempted by federal law or regulation, the validity of the remainder of this division shall not be affected thereby.” Cal. Fin.Code § 4059 (emphasis added). Plaintiffs argue that the severability clause does not state that preempted applications should be severed from the statute. We are not persuaded that the omission of that word indicates a legislative preference that we strike down the entire statute. In addition to the aforementioned statements
For the foregoing reasons, we narrow the affiliate-sharing provision of SB1, Cal. Fin.Code § 4053(b)(1), to exclude the regulation of consumer report information as defined by the FCRA, 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(d)(l).
REVERSED and REMANDED.
. CRA, 15 U.S.C. § 1681t(b)(2) provides:
No requirement or prohibition may be imposed under the laws of any State—
(2) with respect to the exchange of information among persons affiliated by common ownership or common corporate control, except that this paragraph shall not apply with respect to [a statute not relevant to this appeal.]
. SB1 section 4053(b)(1) reads, in relevant part:
A financial institution shall not disclose to, or share a consumer’s nonpublic personal information with, an affiliate unless the financial institution has clearly and conspicuously notified the consumer annually in writing ... that the nonpublic personal information may be disclosed to an affiliate of the financial institution and the consumer has not directed that the nonpublic personal information not be disclosed.
As part of the notification process, “consumer[s] shall be provided a reasonable opportunity prior to disclosure of nonpublic personal information to direct that nonpublic personal information not be disclosed.” Cal. Fin.Code § 4053(d)(3). SB1 exempts certain closely affiliated institutions from these requirements. Id. § 4053(c)(l)-(3).
. FCRA § 168 la(d)(l) provides:
The term “consumer report” means any written, oral, or other communication of any information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living which is used or expected to be used or collected in whole or in part for the purpose of serving as a factor in establishing the consumer’s eligibility for—
(A) credit or insurance to be used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes;
(B) employment purposes; or
(C) any other purpose authorized under [§ 1681b],
. In their briefing to this court, Plaintiffs stated: "Every such 'portion' of [section] 4053(b)(1) imposes restrictions and prohibitions on affiliate-sharing of 'nonpublic personal information,’ which indisputably includes both federally protected and unprotected information.”
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting:
I agree with the majority that section 4053(b) has non-preempted applications. However, I disagree that California law permits us to reform section 4053(b) to sever its preempted applications. I would allow the California Legislature to reform section 4053(b) to conform to federal law, if it chooses to do so.
It may be true, as the majority argues, that the Legislature in passing SB1 was concerned with protecting non-preempted consumer information. However, it does not follow by logic or otherwise that the patched-up version of SB1 proposed by the majority would “effectuate[ ] policy judgments clearly articulated” by the Legislature, or that the Legislature would necessarily “prefer[ ] such a reformed version of the statute [over] invalidation of the statute.” Kopp v. Fair Political Practices Comm’n, 11 Cal.4th 607, 47 Cal.Rptr.2d 108, 905 P.2d 1248, 1290 (Cal. 1995) (emphasis added). Our very best indicator of the Legislature’s intent — the statute itself — suggests that the Legislature would disfavor our interference.
As the majority acknowledges, the statute’s own severability clause does not state that preempted applications should be severed; on the contrary, it provides only that “if any phrase, clause, sentence, or provision is declared to be invalid or is preempted by federal law or regulation, the validity of the remainder of this division shall not be affected thereby.” Cal. Fin.Code § 4059. Clearly, a “phrase, clause, sentence, or provision” can be severed, but the statute itself does not provide for the more complicated exercise of severing applications adopted by the majority. The majority states that this is a “hyper-technical” reading of the severability clause; I disagree. There is certainly a difference between striking portions or language from a statute, which is what severing a “phrase, clause, sentence, or provision” would do, and leaving intact the language but giving it a different meaning, which is what the majority’s severing an application does. Then what prevents us
Following the important principle of Separation of Powers leads me to the same result. SB1 was a fiercely-negotiated statute that underwent a long process of revisions before it was finally passed. Had the Legislature wanted to provide for the majority’s severance-of-applications theory, it could have done so. It has done so in the past. See Walnut Creek Manor, Inc. v. Fair Employment & Housing Comm’n, 54 Cal.3d 245, 284 Cal.Rptr. 718, 814 P.2d 704, 717 n. 13 (Cal. 1991). It did not do so when it passed SB1.
I would therefore affirm the district court’s holding that, even if a portion of section 4053(b)(1) survives preemption, this court lacks the power to sever the preempted applications.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.