Unless amended by the legislature, modified by regulations to be promulgated by Attorney General Xavier Becerra, or pre-empted by federal legislation, the California Consumer Privacy Act, Cal. Civ. Code Sections 1798.100 et seq. (CCPA), which is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2020, will invite an explosion of class action litigation, as plaintiffs counsel seek to recover statutory damages between $100 and $750 for each California resident affected by a security breach.

The CCPA is extremely broad in scope compared to other U.S. privacy laws; it applies to the use of personal information about California residents—rather than regulating the use, collection and dissemination of information obtained by companies from consumers. The CCPA confers on California residents the right to be notified of the personal information collected from them and the purpose of the collection, request disclosure of the specific personal information that a business has collected from them, opt out of the collection of their personal information, and demand that their personal information be deleted. The CCPA mandates that businesses place specific notices regarding residents’ rights under the law on their websites, amend their privacy policies, require their service providers to adhere to the CCPA, and adjust internal practices and procedures to ensure compliance. While the law excludes businesses with annual gross revenue below $25,000,000 that do not buy, sell or receive for commercial purposes personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households or devices or derive 50% or more of their annual revenue from selling consumers’ personal information, it will apply to thousands of companies inside and outside the state that use the personal information of California residents. The law also contains many gaps and unexplained provisions that presumably will be resolved by subsequent amendment of the legislature, regulations that will be promulgated on or before Jan. 1, 2020, or though regulatory enforcement actions by the California Attorney General.

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