Senate Bill 561 Blocked by California Senate Appropriations Committee
Earlier this month, several California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) amendment bills took the first step towards becoming law by receiving passing votes from their designated committees. On May 16th, the Senate Appropriations Committee placed one of the more significant bills—the Attorney General backed SB 561—in its suspense file.
If passed, SB 561 would have: (1) expanded the CCPA’s private right of action to cover all violations (not just data breaches of unencrypted personal information); (2) eliminated the 30-day opportunity for businesses to cure a violation before being sued; and (3) removed the provision that allows businesses or third parties to seek the opinion of the AG’s office on ambiguities in the CCPA’s requirements.
The bill was previously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 6-2 vote; however, the 6-0 vote by the Appropriations Committee to place SB 561 in its suspense file effectively blocks it from becoming law in 2019. This is good news for businesses that were justifiably worried about the potential abuse of an expanded private right of action, similar to what we’ve seen recently under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
To read more about SB 561 and other bills proposing amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), click here.
About Mac Murray & Shuster LLP
Mac Murray & Shuster (M&S) provides consumer protection regulatory compliance and defense counsel to businesses nationwide in highly regulated industries including teleservices, financial services, debt collection, healthcare, and charitable contributions. Led by former state regulators, including a former Ohio Attorney General, M&S helps clients thrive against a complex regulatory landscape through proactive compliance management and representation in litigation and other matters before state attorneys general and federal agencies including the FCC, FTC, and CFPB. Visit mslawgroup.com to learn more.
This article courtesy of Mac Murray & Shuster’s Compliance Now Blog and was written by Nick Whisler.
