Senate Bill 561’s smooth sail through the California legislature came to an end on Thursday, May 16. On the eve of the deadline for all fiscal committees to hear and report on the bills introduced in their house, the Senate Appropriations committee decided to hold the bill. Meaning, SB 561 will not pass out of the Senate this session.
Notably, the controversial bill was a proposed CCPA amendment that threatened to expand the Act’s private right of action by allowing consumers to bring actions when any of their CCPA rights were violated. Currently, the CCPA only permits consumers to bring actions in the event of a data breach. For a detailed review of the CCPA, please view our previous posts.
The bill would have also affected the way that the Attorney General could enforce the CCPA. The CCPA provides businesses that have violated the Act 30 days to cure the violation, and allows businesses and third parties to request guidance from the Attorney General on how to comply with the Act. The bill would have eliminated the 30-day window and would have put the onus on the Attorney General to promulgate any guidance. A more detailed review of SB 561 is available in a previous post.
While this does not necessarily mean it’s the end of the road for SB 561 – after all, the CCPA was resurrected from an inactive file – it does mean good-bye for now.