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AP20:058

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 2020
CONTACT:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575

New Measure Eligible for California's November 2020 Ballot

Amends Consumer Privacy Laws. Initiative Statute.

SACRAMENTO, CA – Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced that an initiative became eligible for the for the November 3, 2020 General Election ballot today.

In order to become eligible for the ballot, the initiative needed 623,212 valid petition signatures, which is equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2018 General Election.

A measure can become eligible via random sampling of petition signatures if the sampling projects that the number of valid signatures is greater than 110 percent of the required number. The initiative needed at least 685,534 projected valid signatures to become eligible by random sampling, and it exceeded that threshold today.

On June 25, 2020, the Secretary of State will certify the initiative as qualified for the November 3, 2020 General Election ballot, unless it is withdrawn by the proponent prior to certification pursuant to Elections Code section 9604(b).

The Attorney General's official title and summary of 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 proponent of the measure is Alastair Mactaggart. They 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.

For more information about how an initiative qualifies for the ballot in California, visit https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/how-qualify-initiative/.

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