In this blog post, https://www.severson.com/consumer-finance/ccpa-ab-1760-amended-to-become-privacy-for-all-act-of-2019/, we previously reported on the “Privacy for All Act of 2019”, Assembly Bill 1760 (“AB 1760” or the “Bill”), introduced by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D – Oakland). Less than a month after Assemblywoman Wicks introduced the Bill, which would have re-enacted much of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”), but would have required the affirmative consent of consumers before a business could sell the consumer’s personal information (instead of the “opt-out” regime established by the CCPA), and would have included a full private right of action, the Bill has been withdrawn by the author. At the hearing of the California Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection on April 23, 2019, Chairman Ed Chau (D – Monterey Park) announced that Assemblywoman Wicks had withdrawn AB 1670 from consideration in the Committee, effectively killing the Bill for the time being.
Currently, the reason for the withdrawal of AB 1760 appears to be a mystery – no press releases have been issued by Assemblywoman Wicks as of the date of this posting, and as recently as April 22, 2019, she was tweeting in support of the Bill. The withdrawal drew sharp criticism from privacy advocates, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, which had strongly supported AB 1760.
While the reasons for the withdrawal is currently unclear, it will certainly be welcome by business interests, which had strongly opposed the draconian law.