Amended in Assembly March 21, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1220

Introduced by Assembly Member Skinner

February 22, 2013

An act to amend Section begin delete 51 end delete begin insert 1785.15 end insert of the Civil Code, relating to begin delete civil rights end delete begin insert consumer credit end insert .

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1220, as amended, Skinner. begin delete Unruh Civil Rights Act. end delete begin insert Consumer credit reporting: files: inspections. end insert

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Existing law requires a consumer credit reporting agency, upon request and proper identification of any consumer, to allow the consumer to visually inspect all files maintained regarding that consumer at the time of the request. Existing law additionally grants a consumer the right to request and receive a written copy of the file.

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This bill would require, if a consumer requests a written copy of his or her file, that the consumer receive the same information that is provided to a user of a consumer credit report, unless otherwise specified.

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The Unruh Civil Rights Act generally prohibits business establishments from discriminating on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, or medical condition.

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This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to this provision.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

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begin insert Section 1785.15 of the end insert begin insert Civil Code end insert begin insert is amended to
read: end insert

1785.15.  

(a) A consumer credit reporting agency shall supply
files and information required under Section 1785.10 during normal
business hours and on reasonable notice. begin insert If a consumer requests
a written copy of his or her file, the consumer shall receive the
same information that is provided to a user of a consumer credit
report unless the consumer specifies otherwise. end insert In addition to the
disclosure provided by this chapter and any disclosures received
by the consumer, the consumer has the right to request and receive
all of the following:

(1) Either a decoded written version of the file or a written copy
of the file, including all information in the file at the time of the
request, with an explanation of any code used.

(2) A credit score for the consumer, the key factors, and the
related information, as defined in and required by Section
1785.15.1.

(3) A record of all inquiries, by recipient, that result in the
provision of information concerning the consumer in connection
with a credit transaction not initiated by the consumer and that
were received by the consumer credit reporting agency in the
12-month period immediately preceding the request for disclosure
under this section.

(4) The recipients, including end users specified in Section
1785.22, of any consumer credit report on the consumer which the
consumer credit reporting agency has furnished:

(A) For employment purposes within the two-year period
preceding the request.

(B) For any other purpose within the 12-month period preceding
the request.

Identification for purposes of this paragraph shall include the
name of the recipient or, if applicable, the fictitious business name
under which the recipient does business disclosed in full. If
requested by the consumer, the identification shall also include
the address of the recipient.

(b) Files maintained on a consumer shall be disclosed promptly
as follows:

(1) In person, at the location where the consumer credit reporting
agency maintains the trained personnel required by subdivision
(d), if he or she appears in person and furnishes proper
identification.

(2) By mail, if the consumer makes a written request with proper
identification for a copy of the file or a decoded written version
of that file to be sent to the consumer at a specified address. A
disclosure pursuant to this paragraph shall be deposited in the
United States mail, postage prepaid, within five business days after
the consumer’s written request for the disclosure is received by
the consumer credit reporting agency. Consumer credit reporting
agencies complying with requests for mailings under this section
shall not be liable for disclosures to third parties caused by
mishandling of mail after the mailings leave the consumer credit
reporting agencies.

(3) A summary of all information contained in files on a
consumer and required to be provided by Section 1785.10 shall
be provided by telephone, if the consumer has made a written
request, with proper identification for telephone disclosure.

(4) Information in a consumer’s file required to be provided in
writing under this section may also be disclosed in another form
if authorized by the consumer and if available from the consumer
credit reporting agency. For this purpose, a consumer may request
disclosure in person pursuant to Section 1785.10, by telephone
upon disclosure of proper identification by the consumer, by
electronic means if available from the consumer credit reporting
agency, or by any other reasonable means that is available from
the consumer credit reporting agency.

(c) “Proper identification,” as used in subdivision (b) means
that information generally deemed sufficient to identify a person.
Only if the consumer is unable to reasonably identify himself or
herself with the information described above may a consumer
credit reporting agency require additional information concerning
the consumer’s employment and personal or family history in order
to verify his or her identity.

(d) The consumer credit reporting agency shall provide trained
personnel to explain to the consumer any information furnished
him or her pursuant to Section 1785.10.

(e) The consumer shall be permitted to be accompanied by one
other person of his or her choosing, who shall furnish reasonable
identification. A consumer credit reporting agency may require
the consumer to furnish a written statement granting permission
to the consumer credit reporting agency to discuss the consumer’s
file in that person’s presence.

(f) Any written disclosure by a consumer credit reporting agency
to any consumer pursuant to this section shall include a written
summary of all rights the consumer has under this title and, in the
case of a consumer credit reporting agency that compiles and
maintains consumer credit reports on a nationwide basis, a toll-free
telephone number that the consumer can use to communicate with
the consumer credit reporting agency. The written summary of
rights required under this subdivision is sufficient if in substantially
the following form:

“You have a right to obtain a copy of your credit file from a
consumer credit reporting agency. You may be charged a
reasonable fee not exceeding eight dollars ($8). There is no fee,
however, if you have been turned down for credit, employment,
insurance, or a rental dwelling because of information in your
credit report within the preceding 60 days. The consumer credit
reporting agency must provide someone to help you interpret the
information in your credit file.

You have a right to dispute inaccurate information by contacting
the consumer credit reporting agency directly. However, neither
you nor any credit repair company or credit service organization
has the right to have accurate, current, and verifiable information
removed from your credit report. Under the Federal Fair Credit
Reporting Act, the consumer credit reporting agency must remove
accurate, negative information from your report only if it is over
seven years old. Bankruptcy information can be reported for 10
years.

If you have notified a consumer credit reporting agency in
writing that you dispute the accuracy of information in your file,
the consumer credit reporting agency must then, within 30 business
days, reinvestigate and modify or remove inaccurate information.
The consumer credit reporting agency may not charge a fee for
this service. Any pertinent information and copies of all documents
you have concerning an error should be given to the consumer
credit reporting agency.

If reinvestigation does not resolve the dispute to your satisfaction,
you may send a brief statement to the consumer credit reporting
agency to keep in your file, explaining why you think the record
is inaccurate. The consumer credit reporting agency must include
your statement about disputed information in a report it issues
about you.

You have a right to receive a record of all inquiries relating to
a credit transaction initiated in 12 months preceding your request.
This record shall include the recipients of any consumer credit
report.

You may request in writing that the information contained in
your file not be provided to a third party for marketing purposes.

You have a right to place a “security alert” in your credit report,
which will warn anyone who receives information in your credit
report that your identity may have been used without your consent.
Recipients of your credit report are required to take reasonable
steps, including contacting you at the telephone number you may
provide with your security alert, to verify your identity prior to
lending money, extending credit, or completing the purchase, lease,
or rental of goods or services. The security alert may prevent credit,
loans, and services from being approved in your name without
your consent. However, you should be aware that taking advantage
of this right may delay or interfere with the timely approval of any
subsequent request or application you make regarding a new loan,
credit, mortgage, or cellular phone or other new account, including
an extension of credit at point of sale. If you place a security alert
on your credit report, you have a right to obtain a free copy of your
credit report at the time the 90-day security alert period expires.
A security alert may be requested by calling the following toll-free
telephone number: (Insert applicable toll-free telephone number).
California consumers also have the right to obtain a “security
freeze.”

You have a right to place a “security freeze” on your credit
report, which will prohibit a consumer credit reporting agency
from releasing any information in your credit report without your
express authorization. A security freeze must be requested in
writing by mail. The security freeze is designed to prevent credit,
loans, and services from being approved in your name without
your consent. However, you should be aware that using a security
freeze to take control over who gets access to the personal and
financial information in your credit report may delay, interfere
with, or prohibit the timely approval of any subsequent request or
application you make regarding a new loan, credit, mortgage, or
cellular phone or other new account, including an extension of
credit at point of sale. When you place a security freeze on your
credit report, you will be provided a personal identification number
or password to use if you choose to remove the freeze on your
credit report or authorize the release of your credit report for a
specific party or period of time after the freeze is in place. To
provide that authorization you must contact the consumer credit
reporting agency and provide all of the following:

(1) The personal identification number or password.

(2) Proper identification to verify your identity.

(3) The proper information regarding the third party who is to
receive the credit report or the period of time for which the report
shall be available to users of the credit report.

A consumer credit reporting agency must authorize the release
of your credit report no later than three business days after
receiving the above information.

A security freeze does not apply when you have an existing
account and a copy of your report is requested by your existing
creditor or its agents or affiliates for certain types of account
review, collection, fraud control, or similar activities.

If you are actively seeking credit, you should understand that
the procedures involved in lifting a security freeze may slow your
application for credit. You should plan ahead and lift a freeze,
either completely if you are shopping around, or specifically for
a certain creditor, before applying for new credit.

A consumer credit reporting agency may not charge a fee to a
consumer for placing or removing a security freeze if the consumer
is a victim of identity theft and submits a copy of a valid police
report or valid Department of Motor Vehicles investigative report.
A person 65 years of age or older with proper identification shall
not be charged a fee for placing an initial security freeze, but may
be charged a fee of no more than five dollars ($5) for lifting,
removing, or replacing a security freeze. All other consumers may
be charged a fee of no more than ten dollars ($10) for each of these
steps.

You have a right to bring civil action against anyone, including
a consumer credit reporting agency, who improperly obtains access
to a file, knowingly or willfully misuses file data, or fails to correct
inaccurate file data.

If you are a victim of identity theft and provide to a consumer
credit reporting agency a copy of a valid police report or a valid
investigative report made by a Department of Motor Vehicles
investigator with peace officer status describing your
circumstances, the following shall apply:

(1) You have a right to have any information you list on the
report as allegedly fraudulent promptly blocked so that the
information cannot be reported. The information will be unblocked
only if (A) the information you provide is a material
misrepresentation of the facts, (B) you agree that the information
is blocked in error, or (C) you knowingly obtained possession of
goods, services, or moneys as a result of the blocked transactions.
If blocked information is unblocked, you will be promptly notified.

(2) You have a right to receive, free of charge and upon request,
one copy of your credit report each month for up to 12 consecutive
months.”

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SECTION 1.  

Section 51 of the Civil Code is amended to read:

51.  

(a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Unruh Civil Rights Act.

(b) All persons within the jurisdiction of this state are free and
equal, and no matter what their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry,
national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information,
marital status, or sexual orientation are entitled to the full and equal
accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in
all business establishments of every kind whatsoever.

(c) This section shall not be construed to confer any right or
privilege on a person that is conditioned or limited by law or that
is applicable alike to persons of every sex, color, race, religion,
ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, marital
status, or sexual orientation or to persons regardless of their genetic
information.

(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require any
construction, alteration, repair, structural or otherwise, or
modification of any sort whatsoever, beyond that construction,
alteration, repair, or modification that is otherwise required by
other provisions of law, to any new or existing establishment,
facility, building, improvement, or any other structure, nor shall
anything in this section be construed to augment, restrict, or alter
in any way the authority of the State Architect to require
construction, alteration, repair, or modifications that the State
Architect otherwise possesses pursuant to other laws.

(e) For purposes of this section:

(1) “Disability” means any mental or physical disability as
defined in Sections 12926 and 12926.1 of the Government Code.

(2) (A) “Genetic information” means, with respect to any
individual, information about any of the following:

(i) The individual’s genetic tests.

(ii) The genetic tests of family members of the individual.

(iii) The manifestation of a disease or disorder in family
members of the individual.

(B) “Genetic information” includes any request for, or receipt
of, genetic services, or participation in clinical research that
includes genetic services, by an individual or any family member
of the individual.

(C) “Genetic information” does not include information about
the sex or age of any individual.

(3) “Medical condition” has the same meaning as defined in
subdivision (i) of Section 12926 of the Government Code.

(4) “Religion” includes all aspects of religious belief,
observance, and practice.

(5) “Sex” includes, but is not limited to, pregnancy, childbirth,
or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth. “Sex”
also includes, but is not limited to, a person’s gender. “Gender”
means sex, and includes a person’s gender identity and gender
expression. “Gender expression” means a person’s gender-related
appearance and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated
with the person’s assigned sex at birth.

(6) “Sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin,
disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status,
or sexual orientation” includes a perception that the person has
any particular characteristic or characteristics within the listed
categories or that the person is associated with a person who has,
or is perceived to have, any particular characteristic or
characteristics within the listed categories.

(7) “Sexual orientation” has the same meaning as defined in
subdivision (r) of Section 12926 of the Government Code.

(f) A violation of the right of any individual under the federal
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-336) shall also
constitute a violation of this section.

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