Many organizations are committing considerable resources to preparing for compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), a process that is complicated by the large number of pending proposed legislative amendments. We won't rehash the history here. As you know, the Act has an effective date of January 1, 2020, and the Attorney General can enforce the Act on July 1, 2020 (or six months after issuing regulations). This post is meant to bring you up to speed on some of the key proposed amendments to the CCPA (there are many more not addressed here) and where they are in the California legislative process. This process is constantly in flux, so keep a close eye on the text and history of these bills (some of which are linked below).
Assembly Bills
On April 23, 2019, the California Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection approved several bills and referred them to the Appropriations Committee, including:
- AB 846, which modifies the non-discrimination and financial incentives provisions. The amendments will impact businesses that offer financial incentives (such as gift cards, certificates, and discounts, loyalty or rewards programs) in exchange for consumer "personal information" (PI).
- AB 873, which redefines "deidentified" to align with the FTC's "reasonably linkable" framework for de-identifying personal information.
- AB 1564, which revises the requirement of a toll-free telephone number for consumers to make consumer requests – it would require an email address and physical address (or just an email address in the case of businesses that operate exclusively online).
On May 1, 2019, the Appropriations Committee unanimously passed AB 25 (another one of the bills approved by the Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection on April 23). AB 25 would redefine "consumers" to omit employees, contractors, job applicants, and agents of the business to the extent the person's personal information is collected and used solely within the context of the person's role as a job applicant to, an employee of, a contractor of, or an agent on behalf of, the business.
After the Appropriations Committee passes a bill, it proceeds to a vote by the full Assembly (and potentially progresses to the Senate).
Senate Bills
The Senate Judiciary Committee passedSB 561, the most widely publicized proposed changes to the CCPA, on April 10. The amendment would expand the private right of action to any violation of the Act (currently limited to data security breaches). On April 29, 2019, the Senate Appropriations Committee placed the bill on the suspense file.
Bills Withdrawn
The authors of two of the widely publicized bills, AB 1760 ("Privacy for All", designed to expand the CCPA) and SB 753 (addressing some of the impact of the "Do Not Sell" provisions on advertising technology), withdrew the bills prior to hearing.
Stay Tuned
As noted above, this is all constantly in flux. The legislative session ends in September. We will continue to monitor developments and update you here.
This post first appeared in Frankfurt Kurnit's Focus on the Data blog (www.focusonthedata.com). It provides general coverage of its subject area. We provide it with the understanding that Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz is not engaged herein in rendering legal advice, and shall not be liable for any damages resulting from any error, inaccuracy, or omission. Our attorneys practice law only in jurisdictions in which they are properly authorized to do so. We do not seek to represent clients in other jurisdictions.
