Is California’s New Privacy Law Right for the United States?

At the end of June, California enacted what has been billed as a comprehensive privacy law. By all accounts, it was a rush job, negotiated in a week behind closed doors in a desperate and successful attempt to keep Californians for Consumer Privacy Campaign Chairman Alaistair MacTaggart’s privacy initiative off the November ballot. As sometimes happens, the law’s proponents and a few reporters may have overhyped the legislation – both given its current contents and because many expect it to change before its effective date in January 2020.

Nonetheless, lawmakers in Congress and in states beyond California may be looking to the new law for ideas. Those doing so should take the law as it stands with a grain of salt. Even before the ink dried on the law, stakeholders were promised additional legislation amending the law, and the California Attorney General is required to promulgate rules enacting the details of the law in 2020. Plus, it’s impossible to know what exactly a law will do until it goes into effect and is litigated. But, this blog takes a deep dive into the law and outlines some of the provisions policymakers should keep in mind as they consider which parts of the California law to export.