State privacy legislation

Keypoint: CCPA-like privacy bills continue to be introduced and work their way through state legislatures.

Those who attended our recent webinar or who subscribe to this blog know that we have been closely tracking proposed CCPA-like legislation in state legislatures across the country. We also launched a 2021 State Privacy Law Tracker to keep pace with the latest developments.

Yet, even with these efforts, there still are numerous developments occurring on a near daily basis. Therefore, we decided to wait until a weekend (when state legislatures are quiet) to provide a summary of where these bills stand. Of course, the contents provided below are time-sensitive and subject to change.

Let’s face it, tracking all of the proposed CCPA-like state privacy legislation has been nearly impossible. At last count, bills have been proposed in sixteen states, including Virginia, New York, Washington, Oklahoma, Arizona, Florida, Utah, Maryland, and Minnesota.

That’s why we created our new 2021 State Privacy Law Tracker.

The tracker identifies the states…

On January 28, 2021, privacy professionals around the world will celebrate Data Privacy Day. This year, we decided to mark the occasion by gathering our team’s thoughts and expectations on what we expect to be the biggest privacy law stories in 2021 and beyond.

Last year we wrote a similar article, attempting to predict how the privacy landscape would unfold in 2020. We got some things right (e.g., the emergence of CCPA 2.0). But, let’s be honest, in March everything changed, including privacy law. As spring turned into summer our writing focused on the privacy law implications of COVID-19, including contact tracing, no contact temperature taking, and the unanticipated collection of heath information, among other unexpected topics. We also took note of developments overseas, including the Court of Justice of the European Union’s Schrems II decision and the emergence of Brazil’s federal privacy law, LGPD.

If there was one takeaway from 2020 from a privacy law perspective it was this – while it is impossible to predict its path, privacy law is rapidly growing and evolving, almost on a daily basis, and in nearly every corner of the world. With that, we turn to our 2021 predictions.

Keypoint: Five states are now considering online privacy legislation.

Virginia and Oklahoma join Washington, New York and Minnesota as states where lawmakers have proposed online privacy legislation this year. It is expected that lawmakers in other states will propose similar legislation in the coming weeks. As discussed in our prior posts, the fact the legislation has been proposed is not indicative of whether it has any chance of becoming law. Since lawmakers passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in 2018 numerous states have considered similar bills, but none of them has become law. That said, presumably one day another state (or more) will join California in passing such legislation.

Below is a brief summary of the two bills. To the extent that the bills appear poised for advancement we will provide a more detailed analysis.

In addition, on February 17, 2021, members of Husch Blackwell’s privacy and data security practice group will host a webinar to discuss all of the CCPA-like privacy bills proposed across the country. To register click here.

Keypoint: Lawmakers in New York and Minnesota have proposed CCPA-like privacy legislation.

As state legislatures have started to convene for the 2021 session, state lawmakers have once-again proposed CCPA-like privacy legislation. As discussed in our prior post, in early January Washington lawmakers again proposed the Washington Privacy Act. In addition, over the last few days, CCPA-like legislation has been proposed in New York and Minnesota.

It is expected that CCPA-like legislation will be filed in more states over the coming days. Whether this legislation moves forward remains to be seen. With the exception of the Washington Privacy Act, over the last two years privacy legislation proposed in other states has failed to gain any traction.

Keypoint: The report provides five recommendations for proposed privacy legislation in Texas but does not propose specific statutory language or make recommendations on many key issues.

In a reminder that winter is likely to bring another round of proposed CCPA-like state privacy legislation, earlier this month, the Texas Privacy Protection Advisory Council issued an interim report with findings and recommendations for privacy legislation in Texas.

Keypoint: After an active winter of proposed state privacy laws, it appears that all eyes will once again be on California for the remainder of the year as we wait for final CCPA regulations, the fate of the CCPA 2.0 ballot measure, and other privacy bills being considered by the California legislature.

Over the past few months, there has not been a lack of things to talk about as it relates to U.S. privacy law developments. Between the CCPA, Washington Privacy Act, CCPA 2.0, and numerous privacy bills proposed in state legislatures, practically every day brought a new story.  However, a lot has changed in a short period of time.

First, the Washington Privacy Act failed to pass (although Washington did enact a facial recognition bill). Then, the world changed with the Coronavirus pandemic.

Yet, there are still developments in U.S. privacy law. Below is an overview of the ones that we have been tracking over the past few weeks.

Map of Wisconsin State in USA

Keypoint: The Wisconsin Data Privacy Act would create CCPA and GDPR-like rights for Wisconsin residents and would strengthen Wisconsin’s data security and breach notification requirements.

Lawmakers in Wisconsin have proposed three bills that, if enacted, would create privacy rights for Wisconsin residents and compliance burdens for entities that process or control consumer data. All three bills were introduced on February 10, 2020 and an initial public hearing was held on February 12, 2020.

Conceptual image about how a laptop computer with internet open a virtual door to worldwide information sharing.Keypoint: 2020 promises to be another ground-breaking year in privacy and cybersecurity law in the United States.

2019 was an exciting year in privacy and cybersecurity law. In the United States, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was the most significant story, but there also were developments in states such as New York and Nevada. Numerous other states also considered consumer privacy legislation, and federal lawmakers even jumped into the fray, proposing a variety of bills and regulations. Overseas, GDPR garnered the most headlines of course, but other countries, such as Brazil, also made news.

But 2019 was just the start. There is no doubt that privacy and cybersecurity law is undergoing a fundamental change in the United States. If nothing else, the legal landscape of privacy law in the United States promises to look very different by the end of the year.

Below we discuss what we anticipate will be the biggest stories in 2020 and beyond.

September 13 was the final day for the California legislature to pass bills amending the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) prior to its January 1, 2020, effective date. After months of speculation and anticipation, we finally have clarity (subject to the Governor’s approval) on the CCPA’s provisions.

Although there were changes – and both business and privacy advocates are claiming victories – the CCPA did not undergo a dramatic change. For businesses, the most notable changes are the addition of limited exemptions for the personal information of employees and business to business contacts as well as changes to the definition of personal information. On the other hand, privacy advocates will point to what did not change, namely, the CCPA retained its core privacy rights.

Below we discuss the changes.