Working with California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a state Senator has introduced additional legislation that would strengthen the consumer protection provisions of the California Consumer Privacy Act.
Under the proposed legislation, individuals would be able to sue companies that do not comply with requests to delete individuals’ personal information. Currently, individuals would only be able to sue companies in the event of a data breach and deputizes the attorney general to go after violators of the law.
Senate Bill 561 was introduced last week by state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson.
“I don’t think the Legislature wants only the attorney general’s office to be able to protect people’s rights,” Becerra said yesterday at a press conference with Jackson in Sacramento, according to a published report. “We need to have some help. And that’s why giving [consumers] their own private right to defend themselves in court if the Department of Justice decides it’s not acting — for whatever number of good reasons — that’s important to be able to truly say … you have rights.”
The CCPA was enacted last year and is not scheduled to go into effect until Jan. 1, 2020, but the law gives individuals the right to ask for all of the personal information stored about them by companies for the preceding 12 months. The law gives consumers access to the information stored about them by companies and the right to request that information be deleted.
Under SB 561, the Attorney General of California may provide information to help businesses comply with the CCPA, instead of currently being required to do so. The bill would also remove a 30-day right-to-cure period after a company receives notice of an alleged violation.
