Here’s an update on some state-level privacy legislation in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Washington State:
Michael Boldin writes:
Today, the New Hampshire House approved a bill to ban government use of facial recognition surveillance technologies. The proposed law would not only help protect privacy in New Hampshire; it would also hinder one aspect of the federal surveillance state.
A bipartisan coalition of four Republicans, three Democrats and one Libertarian introduced House Bill 1642 (HB1642) on Jan. 8. The legislation would ban the state and its political subdivisions from using facial recognition and would make any such information obtained in violation of the act inadmissible in court.
Read more on TenthAmendmentCenter.
Mike Maharrey writes:
Yesterday, a Massachusetts joint legislative committee passed a bill that would put strict limitations on the use of automated license plate reader systems (ALPRs) by the state. Passage into law would also place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal program using states to help track the location of millions of everyday people through pictures of their license plates.
Rep. William Straus (D-Bristol) introduced House Bill 3141 (H3141) last year and it carried over to the 2020 session. The legislation would restrict law enforcement use of ALPRs to specific, enumerated “legitimate law enforcement purposes.” The proposed law would also put strict limitations on the retention and sharing of data gathered by license plate readers.
On Feb. 18, the Joint Committee on Transportation passed H3141.
Read more on TenthAmendmentCenter.
Colin Wood reports:
A hearing this week in the Washington state House of Representatives will determine if the state legislature will go forward with a bill that would give the state sweeping new data-privacy rules. Members on Friday will take up the Washington Privacy Act, which passed out of the state Senate last week and, if enacted, would give the state’s 7.5 million residents digital privacy protections on par with those recently imposed in California.
Read more on StateScoop.
These are not the only states with privacy laws in the legislative hopper, so to speak. As Aaron Kirkpatrick reports today on ABA Risk & Compliance:
When this article went to press, at least eight states—Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Texas—had seen proposed legislation similar to CCPA, and even more states had seen approaches less intense than CCPA.
For example, some states don’t include CCPA’s private right of action under which consumers can sue companies for monetary compensation should their data be negligently handled. Other states, such as Nevada, have chosen to only include organizations that sell personal data under the law’s umbrella.
And that’s just versions of CCPA. There are also bills like New York’s even more protective and radical Privacy Act, although that bill doesn’t seem to have a lot of traction at this point.
Thanks to Joe Cadillic for helping to track these developments.