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AP19:101

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 18, 2019
CONTACT:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575

Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation

Amends Consumer Privacy Laws. Initiative Statute.

SACRAMENTO, CA – Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced that the proponent of a new initiative was cleared to begin collecting petition signatures yesterday.

The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on initiative petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponent and to the Secretary of State, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponent and to county elections officials. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the measure is as follows:

AMENDS CONSUMER PRIVACY LAWS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Permits consumers to: (1) prevent businesses from sharing personal information; (2) correct inaccurate personal information; and (3) limit businesses’ use of “sensitive personal information”—such as precise geolocation; race; ethnicity; religion; genetic data; union membership; private communications; and certain sexual orientation, health, and biometric information. Changes criteria for which businesses must comply with these laws. Prohibits businesses’ retention of personal information for longer than reasonably necessary. Triples maximum penalties for violations concerning consumers under age 16. Establishes California Privacy Protection Agency to enforce and implement consumer privacy laws, and impose administrative fines. Requires adoption of substantive regulations. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Increased annual state costs of roughly $10 million for a new state agency to monitor compliance and enforcement of consumer privacy laws. Increased state costs, potentially reaching the low millions of dollars annually, from increased workload to DOJ and the state courts, some or all of which would be offset by penalty revenues. Unknown impact on state and local tax revenues due to economic effects resulting from new requirements on businesses to protect consumer information. (19-0021A1.)

The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1879 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 19-0021.

The proponent of the measure, Alastair Mactaggart, must collect signatures of 623,212 registered voters (five percent of the total votes cast for Governor in the November 2018 general election) in order to qualify it for the ballot. The proponent has 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials no later than June 15, 2020*. The proponent can be reached c/o James C. Harrison of Remcho, Johansen & Purcell, LLP at (510) 346-6203. The address for Remcho, Johansen & Purcell, LLP is 1901 Harrison Street, Suite 1550, Oakland, CA 94612.

*Date adjusted for official deadline, which falls on a Sunday (Elec. Code § 15)

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