A number of legislative proposals seeking to amend the California Consumer Privacy Act are moving forward following an April 23 hearing before the California Assembly’s Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection in which the bills were approved. The bills will now advance to the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee before being voted on by the full Assembly and potentially advancing to the California Senate for consideration.
Tag Archives: CaCPA
Efforts to Expand CCPA’s Private Right of Action Remain in Question
The California legislature is considering significant amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act ahead of the law’s January 1, 2020 implementation date. Of particular note has been the potential for CCPA amendments to expand the private right of action beyond violations of businesses’ duty to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures to instead cover violations of any CCPA rights.
Beyond FERPA: The California Consumer Privacy Act’s New Rules for Privacy in the Education Sector
In June of 2018, California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act, which seeks to give consumers additional safeguards regarding their personal information. The CCPA will become effective January of 2020 and may impact companies in the education sector, including the larger education technology companies. While the CCPA does not apply to nonprofit educational institutions, it may apply to certain for-profit educational institutions, third-party service providers, and others in the education space. If an educational entity meets the threshold requirements below or it processes information on behalf of such an entity, it should prepare for CCPA implementation by January 2020.
CCPA Update: CA AG Backs Bill to Expand Private Right of Action and Remove Cure Period
A bill introduced to amend the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA” or the “Act”) could greatly expand the risks to businesses that collect the personal information of California consumers. Senate Bill 561 (“SB 561”) would expand the CCPA’s private right of action to any violation of a consumer’s CCPA rights, remove the existing 30-day cure period, and eliminate businesses’ right to consult the AG’s office regarding compliance. SB 561 would not impact the CCPA’s current effective date of January 1, 2020.
California Consumer Privacy Act: The Challenge Ahead – The CCPA’s “Reasonable” Security Requirement
Much of the focus on the California Consumer Protection Act (“CCPA”) has been on the new rights that it affords California consumers, including the rights to access, delete, and opt out of the sale of their personal information. But arguably the greatest risk to covered businesses involves data security, as the CCPA creates for the first time a private right of action with substantial statutory penalties for breaches involving California consumers’ personal information. This installment of the Hogan Lovells’ CCPA series explains the CCPA’s security requirement and consequences for non-compliance, and describes security controls that most organizations can implement to mitigate this risk.
California DoJ Sets March 8 Deadline for CCPA Pre-Rulemaking Comments
The California Department of Justice has announced a March 8, 2019 deadline for submitting written pre-rulemaking comments on the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The March 8 deadline is an extension from the previously set end-of-February deadline. Pursuant to section 1798.185(a) of the CCPA, the California Attorney General (AG) is obligated to solicit broad public participation and adopt regulations to further the purposes of the CCPA. The CCPA sets out seven specific areas for AG rulemaking.
California Department of Justice to Hold Six Public Forums on the CCPA
The California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the California Department of Justice will hold six public forums about the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) that are open to all members of the public. These public forums are being held pursuant to Section 1798.185 of the CCPA, which requires the Attorney General to “solicit broad public participation and adopt regulations to further the purposes” of the CCPA.
California Consumer Privacy Act: The Challenge Ahead – The CCPA’s Anti-Discrimination Clause
One of the most controversial elements of the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) is the establishment of an “anti-discrimination” right – businesses may not “discriminate” against consumers for exercising certain rights under the CCPA, and they will need to assess whether and how they can require consumers to accept certain data practices as a condition of service. Compliance would be challenging even if the provision were articulated clearly, but as we have discussed in this blog series, the accelerated drafting process and passage of the CCPA earlier this year left little time for public comment and responsive amendments. As a result, the law includes a series of ambiguities that complicate compliance, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the anti-discrimination provision.
This entry in Hogan Lovells’ ongoing series on the CCPA focuses on the law’s anti-discrimination clause, its ambiguities and potentially contradictory provisions, and impact on businesses.
California Consumer Privacy Act: The Challenge Ahead – The Interplay Between the CCPA and Financial Institutions
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) exempts information that is collected, processed, sold, or disclosed pursuant to the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”), and its implementing regulations (the “Privacy Rule”), or the California Financial Information Privacy Act (“CFIPA”). It does not exempt financial institutions altogether from its requirements where a financial information is processing information not subject to these regimes. In such situations, a financial institution must comply with a wide array of CCPA obligations, including requirements to make certain disclosures to consumers and to provide certain rights to consumers, such as the right to stop “sales” of their personal information and the right to access data that a business has collected about them. Determining whether information a financial institution processes is covered by the exemption or not can be challenging and is something that financial institutions will need to analyze for their operations.
This blog post provides background on the scope of the exemption and an overview of key considerations for financial institutions developing CCPA compliance programs.
California Consumer Privacy Act: The Challenge Ahead – The Impact of the CCPA on Data-Driven Marketing and Business Models
In the digital age, data is everything. “Big Data” feeds countless business processes and offerings. Businesses rely on data to enhance revenue and drive efficiency, whether by better understanding the needs of existing customers, reaching new ones in previously unimagined ways, or obtaining valuable insights to guide a wide array of decisions. Data also drives developments in artificial intelligence, automation, and the Internet of Things. Come 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) may significantly impact businesses’ data practices, with new and burdensome compliance obligations such as “sale” opt-out requirements and, in certain circumstances, restrictions on tiered pricing and service levels. This entry in Hogan Lovells’ ongoing series on the CCPA will focus on implications for data-driven businesses–the rapidly increasing number of businesses that rely heavily on consumer data, whether for marketing, gaining marketplace insights, internal research, or use as a core commodity.
California Consumer Privacy Act: The Challenge Ahead – CCPA and Employee Data
The application of the California Consumer Protection Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) to employee data has been the subject of much debate since the first version of the bill was introduced on June 21, 2018 (just days prior to its enactment on June 28). Under a plain language reading of the CCPA, the law likely applies to employee data. However, it is unclear whether the California legislature intended that result. There is no clarity to be found in the general statutory structure, the legislative history, legislative responses to advocate letters, or the technical amendments signed into law on September 23. As part of our ongoing series on the CCPA, this post lays out why the issue of CCPA applicability to employees is controversial and nevertheless offers potential strategies to address CCPA compliance requirements as they may relate to personnel records.
California Consumer Privacy Act: The Challenge Ahead – Four Key Considerations for Health and Life Sciences Companies
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) adds another set of privacy requirements for health and life sciences companies. Managing the interaction of these new requirements with existing obligations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA), and other health privacy laws will continue to be an area of focus in the health privacy community for years to come. In the latest installment of the CCPA blog series, we describe these issues and outline four important steps health and life sciences companies may consider to assess the CCPA’s operational impact.
California Consumer Privacy Act: The Challenge Ahead – Consumer Litigation and the CCPA: What to Expect
This post discusses litigation exposure that businesses collecting personal information about California consumers should consider in the wake of the California Legislature’s passage of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA). The CCPA creates a limited private right of action for suits arising out of data breaches. At the same time, it also precludes individuals from using it as a basis for a private right of action under any other statute. Both features of the law have potentially far-reaching implications and will garner the attention of an already relentless plaintiffs’ bar when it goes into effect January 1, 2020.
California Consumer Privacy Act: The Challenge Ahead — Data Mapping and the CCPA
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) provides a series of new compliance obligations and operational challenges for companies doing business in California. A vital first step for any company subject to the CCPA and looking to forge a practical path forward is to inventory the personal information (“PI”) that the company collects, stores, and shares with others. As part of our ongoing series on the CCPA and its implications, this post sets out key issues and questions to consider when contemplating a data mapping exercise.
California Consumer Privacy Act: The Challenge Ahead — Key Terms in the CCPA
Words matter. Nowhere is this truer than in legislation, where word choices—often the product of long debate and imperfect compromise—determine the scope and impact of a law. Legislative history can speak volumes about those word choices, and the unique legislative history of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) only highlights the importance of understanding the terms used in the act. We thus focus here on discussing some of the CCPA’s key definitional terms.
California Consumer Privacy Act: The Challenge Ahead — Introduction to Hogan Lovells’ Blog Series
We have heard the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) called many things since its enactment on June 28, 2018. Our experience to date has confirmed the compliance challenge ahead for organizations that engage with the residents of the world’s fifth-largest economy. We will explore the ramifications for businesses of this seminal legislation in this multi-part series, “The Challenge Ahead” authored by members of Hogan Lovells’ CCPA team. In this first installment, we describe recent activity to enact so-called “technical” amendments to the CCPA.