California Consumer Privacy Act

[Update:  After publication of the below post, AB 1035 was amended to remove the below-referenced language. The fact that the California legislature considered defining what constitutes “reasonable security procedures and practices” for purposes of the CCPA’s private right of action but, at least as of now, did not proceed with such legislation leaves businesses subject to the CCPA with little to no legislative direction as to how they can demonstrate that they are undertaking reasonable security procedures and practices. It also exposes the CCPA to the argument that the subject language is void for vagueness. Given the substantial penalties businesses are exposed to under the CCPA’s private right of action, the failure of the legislature to address this issue is notable especially considering that Ohio implemented legislation last year that California could have used as a guide.]

Given the near ubiquitous coverage of proposed CCPA amendments, it may be hard to believe that any bill could fly under the radar, but that appears to be the case with AB 1035, which would amend the CCPA’s private right of action to link “reasonable security procedures and practices” to NIST standards.

As we first reported in February, the Nevada legislature has been considering legislation that would amend its online privacy notice statutes, NRS 603A.300 to 360. Among other things, Nevada’s existing law requires “operators” to provide a notice to consumers that (1) identifies the types of information the operator collects online, (2) describes the process (if any) for consumers to review or request changes to their information, (3) describes the process by which the operator notifies consumers of changes to the notice, and (4) discloses whether a third party may collect covered information about an individual’s online activities over time and across different Internet websites or online services.

Although there certainly will be more bills proposed to amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), there already are a significant number of bills that have been working their way through the legislative process. One of these bills – SB561, which would expand the CCPA’s private right of action – received widespread attention when it was introduced…