Bill Would Give Californians a Private Right of Action

California AG Xavier Becerra believes the California Consumer Privacy Act doesn’t provide the tools his office needs to protect the privacy of the state’s citizens. In a letter to the legislature he outlined his concerns. He pointed out that the CCPA has only a limited right for people to sue companies that violate their privacy rights and only allows for a lawsuit for data breaches. “The lack of a private right of action, which would provide a critical adjunct to governmental enforcement, will substantially increase the AGO’s need for new enforcement resources,” Becerra wrote in August. “I urge you to provide consumers with a private right of action under the CCPA.” In response, a bill presently before the legislature empowers Californians to challenge companies that violate their privacy in court. It also eliminates the 30-day “right to cure” in the CCPA that gives companies that have already violated people’s privacy rights a grace period and eliminates any taxpayer subsidies for compliance with the law which was written into the bill as a favor to Silicon Valley. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill over objections that it breaks an agreement lawmakers struck with the tech industry to pass the CCPA in the first place.