They're proposing changing what existing laws apply to. It may not be a change to the letter of the law, but it's an administrative change to the spirit of the law and to its effect. Not all changes to a legal system involve re-writing the text of the laws.
This whole debacle reminds me of the recurring attempt to ban prizes in boxes of cereals. There isn't a real problem there. No one was ever ruined because they sold their house to buy cereal boxes (or lock boxes) and then resorted to thievery to support their addiction. It's always been about parents who don't want to be…
The popups themselves may not be stupid, but the fact that they aren't optional is patently idiotic as are the usual arguments that people who made the missions put a lot of work into them so people shouldn't be allowed to ignore them. It's a bad enough to impose those interruptions on free players, but it's an obscenity…