Guiding clients through the changing landscape of U.S. state privacy laws.
Privacy law in the United States is rapidly changing. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) took effect January 1, 2020, and became enforceable July 1, 2020, bringing sweeping change that affords considerable privacy rights to California residents and adds significantly to the compliance obligations of covered entities. Legislatures in numerous other states have considered enacting similar legislation, including Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Other states are expected to follow. Additionally, related privacy measures are emerging. In Illinois, for example, numerous companies are facing compliance and litigation burdens stemming from the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
Husch Blackwell’s Data Privacy and Cybersecurity team is actively following the evolving changes in state privacy laws on our Byte Back blog.
States to watch:
The CCPA took effect January 1, 2020, and became enforceable July 1, 2020. California residents will vote on an even stricter privacy law in November 2020. See our CCPA Resource Center for all the latest news and analysis.
BIPA has made Illinois a hotbed for privacy litigation. Illinois lawmakers also have considered CCPA-like legislation, which we are tracking.
Nevada is one of three states (along with California and Delaware) that has an online privacy policy statute. In 2019, Nevada lawmakers passed an amendment to that statute requiring covered entities to allow state residents to opt out of data sales, which we covered and will continue to monitor.
In 2019, New York significantly expanded its cybersecurity enforcement powers against private entities through the Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (SHIELD Act). Track the latest developments.
Lawmakers in the state of Washington tried and failed to pass consumer privacy legislation in 2019 and 2020. Will 2021 be different? Read more on our detailed analysis of the Washington Privacy Act.