CCPA Proposed Regulations Published By California Attorney General

By Styskal, Wiese & Melchione

A much-anticipated new chapter in the California Consumer Privacy Act began today with the publication of Attorney General Proposed Regulations — https://www.oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa. Contrary to the hopes of many financial institutions, it does not introduce a blanket financial institution exemption.  Neither does legislation going through the approval process with Governor Newsom, even though the legislature has done FIs some favors during this legislative session.  While the Proposed Rule appears to supply some clarity about details of compliance, it also introduces some new twists that could significantly impact compliance measures necessary at banks and credit unions.

Expected elements which will no-doubt remain through to the final rule include requirements for notices to be in plan language and avoid jargon, as well as formatted to be accessible and readable (including loose disability references that will raise website accessibility/ADA notes for many FIs).  Positives include specificity about how to title links, permissible ways to respond to different types of requests, and similar operational details—the simple aspects of operations are covered in relatively unsurprising ways. 

But the negatives and unanswered questions involved remain substantial.  For example, businesses that interact with consumers offline must also provide notices offline by a “method that facilitates consumer awareness of their right to opt-out.”  Businesses that offer any information to consumers in a language other than English (not just disclosures) in the ordinary course of business would need to provide CCPA notices in that language.  As we are all able to sift through this proposal, more such details will doubtless surface.  And as noted above, because the proposal ignores the Gramm-Leach-Bliley exception to CCPA, the details of how GLB and CCPA will interact still leave many murky and complex issues.

We will be providing more commentary to our Client Pool Subscribers soon!