On February 25, 2019, the California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson introduced proposed amendments (SB 561) to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which was enacted in June 2018.
We previously discussed the breadth and novelty of the CCPA. SB 561 proposes to expand and strengthen the CCPA. Specifically, SB 561 would:
- Expand the consumer’s right to bring a private cause of action if their rights under the CCPA are violated. As written currently, the CCPA only gives a consumer a private right of action if their non-encrypted or non-redacted personal information is subject to “unauthorized access and exfiltration, theft[] or disclosure as a result of the business’ violation of the duty to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures...."
- Remove language allowing businesses 30 days to cure an alleged violation of non-compliance.
- Remove language permitting a business or other third party to seek the opinion of the attorney general for guidance on how to comply with the CCPA. Rather, the proposed amendment specifies that the attorney general may publish materials that provide general guidance on compliance.
If enacted, this would be the second amendment to the CCPA, which is set to become effective on January 1, 2020.