SACRAMENTO - Bills to prohibit junk faxes and bar businesses from discriminating against consumers who refuse to release personal information were approved by the state Senate on Monday.

By a 30-5 vote, lawmakers sent the Assembly a bill by Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, that would put into California law the current federal ban on unsolicited faxed advertisements commonly known as junk faxes.

Bowen said the bill is needed in case Congress adopts legislation by Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., to weaken the federal prohibition.

“If Congress is intent on punching a Hummer-sized loophole in the federal ban, California needs a strong state junk fax ban to prevent fax machine owners from being forced to pay for nonstop sales pitches they didn’t ask for and don’t want,” she said.

The Senate also approved, 23-13, a bill by Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, that would bar businesses from denying a consumer a product or service because the consumer refused to reveal personal information or allow the information to be disclosed by the business.

The bill would exempt products or services that couldn’t be provided without the customer’s personal information.

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On the Net: Read the bills, SB440 and SB833, at www.senate.ca.gov