BILL NUMBER: AB 1442 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gatto
JANUARY 6, 2014
An act to amend Sections 1798.3, 1798.14, 1798.17, 1798.18,
1798.19, and 1798.53 of the Civil Code, relating to the Information
Practices Act of 1977.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1442, as introduced, Gatto. The Information Practices Act of
1977: local government.
The Information Practices Act of 1977 prescribes requirements on
state agencies for the maintenance of personal information, as
defined, and restricts a state agency from disclosing personal
information contained in its records, as specified. The act requires
each agency to maintain in its records only personal information that
is relevant and necessary to accomplish a purpose of the agency
required or authorized by the California Constitution or statute or
mandated by the federal government. The act makes a person who
willfully requests or obtains a record from an agency under false
pretenses or who intentionally discloses specific information under
certain circumstances guilty of a misdemeanor. The act provides that
an intentional violation of its provisions by an officer or employee
of an agency constitutes cause for discipline, including termination
of employment. The act also provides a civil action against an agency
for specified failures under the act. The act prohibits an
individual's name and address from being distributed for commercial
purposes, as specified, unless specifically authorized by law.
This bill would expand the definition of "agency" to include local
governmental entities.
The bill would generally require an agency to destroy personal
information maintained in accordance with the act when the agency
determines the personal information is no longer relevant and
necessary to accomplish its purpose. The bill would establish special
provisions for a Kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, school
district regarding information destruction and parental notification
for personal information on students maintained by the district.
By expanding the duties of local officials and expanding the
definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no
reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that,
if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains
costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall
be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1798.3 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
1798.3. As used in this chapter:
(a) The term "personal information" means any information that is
maintained by an agency that identifies or describes an individual,
including, but not limited to, his or her name, social security
number, physical description, home address, home telephone number,
education, financial matters, and medical or employment history. It
includes statements made by, or attributed to, the individual.
(b) The term "agency" means every state or local
office, officer, department, division, bureau, board, commission, or
other state or local agency, except that the term agency
shall not include:
(1) The California Legislature.
(2) Any agency established under Article VI of the California
Constitution.
(3) The State Compensation Insurance Fund, except as to any
records which contain personal information about the employees of the
State Compensation Insurance Fund.
(4) A local agency, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 6252
of the Government Code.
(c) The term "disclose" means to disclose, release, transfer,
disseminate, or otherwise communicate all or any part of any record
orally, in writing, or by electronic or any other means to any person
or entity.
(d) The term "individual" means a natural person.
(e) The term "maintain" includes maintain, acquire, use, or
disclose.
(f) The term "person" means any natural person, corporation,
partnership, limited liability company, firm, or association.
(g) The term "record" means any file or grouping of information
about an individual that is maintained by an agency by reference to
an identifying particular such as the individual's name, photograph,
finger or voice print, or a number or symbol assigned to the
individual.
(h) The term "system of records" means one or more records, which
pertain to one or more individuals, which is maintained by any
agency, from which information is retrieved by the name of an
individual or by some identifying number, symbol or other identifying
particular assigned to the individual.
(i) The term "governmental entity," except as used in Section
1798.26, means any branch of the federal government or of the local
government.
(j) The term "commercial purpose" means any purpose which has
financial gain as a major objective. It does not include the
gathering or dissemination of newsworthy facts by a publisher or
broadcaster.
(k) The term "regulatory agency" means the Department of Business
Oversight, the Department of Insurance, the Bureau of Real Estate,
and agencies of the United States or of any other state responsible
for regulating financial institutions.
SEC. 2. Section 1798.14 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
1798.14. (a) Each agency shall maintain in
its records only personal information which
that is relevant and necessary to accomplish a purpose of the
agency required or authorized by the California Constitution
or , statute , ordinance, or
mandated by the federal government , and, except as provided in
subdivision (b), shall destroy the personal information when the
agency determines the personal information is no longer relevant and
necessary to accomplish that purpose .
(b) A school district for kindergarten or grades 1 to 12,
inclusive, that gathers and maintains in its records personal
information on a student enrolled in the school district in shall do
the following:
(1) Destroy personal information maintained in its records within
one year of a student turning 18 years of age, or within one year
after the student is no longer enrolled in the school district,
whichever is first.
(2) Notify each parent or guardian of the student that personal
information is being gathered and that any information maintained in
its records with regard to the student shall be destroyed in
accordance with paragraph (1).
SEC. 3. Section 1798.17 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
1798.17. Each agency shall provide on or with any form used to
collect personal information from individuals the notice specified in
this section. When contact with the individual is of a regularly
recurring nature, an initial notice followed by a periodic notice of
not more than one-year intervals shall satisfy this requirement. This
requirement is also satisfied by notification to individuals of the
availability of the notice in annual tax-related pamphlets or
booklets provided for them. The notice shall include all of the
following:
(a) The name of the agency and the division within the agency that
is requesting the information.
(b) The title, business address, and telephone number of the
agency official who is responsible for the system of records and who
shall, upon request, inform an individual regarding the location of
his or her records and the categories of any persons who use the
information in those records.
(c) The authority, whether granted by statute, regulation,
or executive order which ,
or ordinance that authorizes the maintenance of the
information.
(d) With respect to each item of information, whether submission
of such information is mandatory or voluntary.
(e) The consequences, if any, of not providing all or any part of
the requested information.
(f) The principal purpose or purposes within the agency for which
the information is to be used.
(g) Any known or foreseeable disclosures which
that may be made of the information pursuant to
subdivision (e) or (f) of Section 1798.24.
(h) The individual's right of access to records containing
personal information which that are
maintained by the agency.
This section does not apply to any enforcement document issued by
an employee of a law enforcement agency in the performance of his or
her duties wherein the violator is provided an exact copy of the
document, or to accident reports whereby the parties of interest may
obtain a copy of the report pursuant to Section 20012 of the Vehicle
Code.
The notice required by this section does not apply to agency
requirements for an individual to provide his or her name,
identifying number, photograph, address, or similar identifying
information, if this information is used only for the purpose of
identification and communication with the individual by the agency,
except that requirements for an individual's social security number
shall conform with the provisions of the Federal
federal Privacy Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-579).
SEC. 4. Section 1798.18 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
1798.18. (a) Each agency shall maintain all
records, to the maximum extent possible, with accuracy, relevance,
timeliness, and completeness.
Such
(b) That standard need not be met
except when such those records are
used to make any determination about the individual. When an agency
transfers a record outside of state or local government,
it shall correct, update, withhold, or delete any portion of the
record that it knows or has reason to believe is inaccurate or
untimely.
SEC. 5. Section 1798.19 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
1798.19. Each agency , when it provides by contract
for the operation or maintenance of records containing personal
information to accomplish an agency function, shall cause, consistent
with its authority, the requirements of this chapter to be applied
to those records. For purposes of Article 10 (commencing with Section
1798.55), any contractor and any employee of the contractor, if the
contract is agreed to on or after July 1, 1978, shall be considered
to be an employee of an agency. Local government functions
mandated by the state are not deemed agency functions within the
meaning of this section.
SEC. 6. Section 1798.53 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
1798.53. (a) Any person, other than an
employee of the state or of a local government agency acting solely
in his or her official capacity, who intentionally discloses
information, not otherwise public, which they know or should
reasonably know was obtained from personal information maintained by
a state an agency or from "records"
within a "system of records" (as these terms are defined in the
Federal federal Privacy Act of 1974
(P. L. 93-579; 5 (5 U.S.C. Sec.
552a)) maintained by a federal government agency, shall be
subject to a civil action, for invasion of privacy, by the individual
to whom the information pertains.
In
(b) In any successful action
brought under this section, the complainant, in addition to any
special or general damages awarded, shall be awarded a minimum of two
thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) in exemplary damages as well
as attorney's fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred in
the suit.
The
(c) The right, remedy, and cause
of action set forth in this section shall be nonexclusive and is in
addition to all other rights, remedies, and causes of action for
invasion of privacy, inherent in Section 1 of Article I of the
California Constitution.
SEC. 7. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution for
certain costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district because, in that regard, this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
However, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of
Title 2 of the Government Code.