Newly introduced state legislation would give Attorney General Xavier Becerra the changes he's been seeking in the California Consumer Privacy Act, including the right for consumers to sue businesses that violate the sweeping new data-protection law.

Senate Bill 561 by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, would expand the law's private right of action beyond data breaches to cover other corporate missteps, such as ignoring consumers' requests to delete their personal information. The law, as written now, only allows the attorney general's office to pursue most violations.

“I don't think the Legislature wants only the attorney general's office to be able to protect people's rights,” Becerra said Monday at a press conference with Jackson in Sacramento. “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.”