BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1268
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          Date of Hearing:   August 4, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                   SB 1268 (Simitian) - As Amended:  August 2, 2010

          Policy Committee:                               
          TransportationVote:10-2
                        Judiciary                             10-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable: No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires transportation agencies that operate  
          electronic toll collection system-Caltrans, the Bay Area Toll  
          Authority, any entity operating a toll bridge, toll lane, or  
          toll highway, or any party under contract with these entities-to  
          regularly purge personal account information, and prohibits  
          these agencies from selling or providing subscribers' personal  
          information to others, with specified exceptions. Specifically,  
          this bill:

          1)Requires the transportation agencies to establish a privacy  
            policy, as specified, provide this policy to subscribers and  
            post the policy on the agencies' websites.

          2)Authorizes the agencies to store only personally identifiable  
            information on subscribers as needed to perform accounting  
            functions and enforcement activities, and, after July 1, 2011,  
            requires all other personal account information to be  
            discarded within 4.5 years after the closure of a billing  
            cycle.

          3)Requires the agencies, after July 1, 2011, to take every  
            effort to purge personal account information after an account  
            is closed or terminated, and in no case to maintain such  
            information more than 4.5 years after termination.

          4)Stipulates this measure does not prohibit an agency from  
            communicating to subscribers about its products or services  
            if, for customer agreements entered into after January 1,  
            2011, the agency receives the subscriber's written consent to  








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            do so.

          5)Authorizes a person whose personally identifiable information  
            has been sold or provided in violation of the above to bring  
            an action to recover the greater of actual damages or $2,500  
            for each individual violation ($4,000 for three or such  
            incidents) plus reasonable costs and attorney's fees.

          6)Authorizes agencies to charge an administrative fee to cover  
            the costs of implementing the above.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          No impact to Caltrans, as such personal identifiable information  
          is kept by the local transportation agencies that operate toll  
          systems. Any costs to these local agencies will not be  
          state-reimbursable, because these costs will be covered through  
          administrative fees authorized in the bill.

           COMMENTS  


           Purpose  . This bill is a response to the increasing use of  
          electronic toll collections systems such as FasTrak, whereby the  
          subscriber's vehicle contains a tag that is read electronically  
          and the subscriber is subsequently billed for each pass through.  
          The transportation agencies offering this service must collect  
          personal information from subscribers, including name, address,  
          and often a credit card number, for purposes of billing. This  
          bill seeks to protect the privacy of the personal information by  
          prohibiting agencies from selling or otherwise sharing data with  
          third parties, subject to certain exceptions. This bill also  
          requires the agencies to regularly purge personal information  
          within 4.5 years of account closure and permits a transportation  
          agency to communicate with subscribers about other services that  
          it may offer, but only if the subscriber "opts in" and agrees to  
          receive such communications in writing. 


          The most recent amendments appear to have removed any opposition  
          to the bill.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 









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