California Attorney General gets Privacy Boost

Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) signed into law a state funding bill that will grant Attorney General Xavier Becerra $700,000 and five new staffers to help craft and implement the state’s sweeping new privacy law. AG Becerra has reportedly told Gov. Brown he expects to issue final rules under the law by June 2019, in advance of the measure taking effect on Jan. 1, 2020. The newly-minted funding law will help bolster the state’s effort to install what’s been touted as the strongest state-level online privacy safeguards in the country. The privacy measure passed in June over strong objections from tech and telecom trade associations, who cited “the timing of the Attorney General’s rulemaking process” as their “most immediate concern” in a letter calling for state legislators to delay implementation.

How Becerra’s rulemaking process plays out may factor into how lawmakers approach privacy at the federal level. Some tech industry groups have already come out in favor of national privacy standards that would preempt California’s law. An aggressive approach from AG Becerra could become exhibit A in the tech industry’s case for preemption in any federal legislation.