The California state legislature continues to work on changes to the California Consumer Privacy Act, considered to be one of the most onerous consumer protection laws in the country.
The state assembly’s Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee held a hearing earlier this week in which it advanced five different bills that would each amend the CCPA and weaken its provisions. The advancement of the bills has inflamed consumer advocates, who worry the strong protections included in the bill are being eroded before the law goes into effect next January.
Assembly Bill 25, for example, would change the definition of consumer in the CCPA to exclude individuals whose information has been collected during the course of applying for a job.
Assembly Bill 846 would prohibit businesses from discriminating against consumers who exercised their rights under the CCPA and would effectively allow companies to continue offering incentive and loyalty programs to consumers.
Assembly Bill 981 would exempt insurance companies from having to comply with the CCPA.
Assembly Bill 873 would amend the definitions of personal information and the type of information known as deidentified. The definition of deidentified data would fall in line with the three-part test used by the Federal Trade Commission to define the term.
Assembly Bill 1564 would allow companies to make a toll-free number, an email address, or a website available to consumers who want to submit requests under the CCPA. The CCPA requires companies only provide a toll-free number.
