BILL NUMBER: SB 849	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 21, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Anderson

                        JANUARY 9, 2014

   An act to amend Section  22575 of the Business and
Professions Code, relating to consumers.   9650 of the
Probate Code, relating to decedents   ' estates. 


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 849, as amended, Anderson.  Consumers: Internet
privacy.   Decedents' estates: electronic mail. 

   Existing law prescribes a process for the appointment of a
personal representative for the purpose of administering the estate
of a decedent. Existing law grants to the personal representative
certain powers, including the right to possess and control the
property of the decedent to be administered in the estate, and limits
the liability of a personal representative for actions taken in good
faith in connection with real or personal property.  
   This bill would authorize the personal representative to request,
and would authorize an electronic communication service or remote
computer service to provide, access to the electronic mail account of
a decedent or to copies of the content of the account, subject to
any applicable service agreement. To exercise this right, the bill
would require the personal representative to provide the account's
service provider with a certified copy of the court order appointing
the personal representative, a copy of the decedent's death
certificate, a written request for access or copies, and an order of
the probate court designating the executor or administrator as an
agent for the subscriber and requiring the estate to indemnify the
electronic communication service or remote computing service from all
liability in complying with the order.  
   Existing law requires an operator of a commercial Internet Web
site or online service that collects personally identifiable
information through the Internet about consumers residing in
California who use or visit its commercial Internet Web site or
online service to conspicuously post its privacy policy on its
Internet Web site or online service and to comply with that policy.
Existing law requires that the privacy policy specify how personally
identifiable information is managed by the operator. 

   This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to this law. 

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


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 9650 of the   Probate
Code   is amended to read: 
   9650.  (a) Except as provided by statute and subject to
subdivision (c):
   (1) The personal representative has the right to, and shall take
possession or control of, all the property of the decedent to be
administered in the decedent's estate and shall collect all debts due
to the decedent or the estate. The personal representative is not
accountable for any debts that remain uncollected without his or her
fault.
   (2) The personal representative is entitled to receive the rents,
issues, and profits from the real and personal property in the estate
until the estate is distributed. 
   (3) The personal representative may request, and an electronic
communication service or remote computer service, as defined in the
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (18 U.S.C. Secs. 2510 and
2711), may provide to the personal representative or administrator of
the estate of a deceased person who was domiciled in this state at
the time of his or her death, access to the electronic mail account
of a decedent, or copies of the content of the account, by providing
the service provider of the account with all of the following: 

   (A) A certified copy of the court order appointing the personal
representative.  
   (B) A copy of the death certificate of the decedent.  
   (C) A written request for access to, or copies of the content of,
the electronic mail account.  
   (D) An order of the probate court which, by law, has jurisdiction
over the estate of a deceased person, designating the executor or
administrator as an agent for the subscriber, as defined in the
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (18 U.S.C. Sec. 2701), on
behalf of his or her estate, and ordering that the estate shall first
indemnify the electronic communication service or remote computing
service, as defined in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (18
U.S.C. Secs. 2510 and 2711), from all liability in complying with the
order.  
   (4) Any provision of access or copies of electronic communications
is subject to copyright law as well as any applicable and
enforceable terms of a service agreement. 
   (b) The personal representative shall pay taxes on, and take all
steps reasonably necessary for the management, protection, and
preservation of, the estate in his or her possession.
   (c) Real property or tangible personal property may be left with
or surrendered to the person presumptively entitled to it unless or
until, in the judgment of the personal representative, possession of
the property by the personal representative will be necessary for
purposes of administration. The person holding the property shall
surrender it to the personal representative on request by the
personal representative. 
  SECTION 1.    Section 22575 of the Business and
Professions Code is amended to read:
   22575.  (a) An operator of a commercial Web site or online service
that collects personally identifiable information through the
Internet about individual consumers residing in California who use or
visit its commercial Web site or online service shall conspicuously
post its privacy policy on its Web site, or in the case of an
operator of an online service, make that policy available in
accordance with paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section 22577. An
operator shall be in violation of this subdivision only if the
operator fails to post its policy within 30 days after being notified
of noncompliance.
   (b) The privacy policy required by subdivision (a) shall do all of
the following:
   (1) Identify the categories of personally identifiable information
that the operator collects through the Web site or online service
about individual consumers who use or visit its commercial Web site
or online service and the categories of third-party persons or
entities with whom the operator may share that personally
identifiable information.
   (2) If the operator maintains a procedure for an individual
consumer who uses or visits its commercial Web site or online service
to review and request changes to any of his or her personally
identifiable information that is collected through the Web site or
online service, provide a description of that procedure.
   (3) Describe the procedure by which the operator notifies
consumers who use or visit its commercial Web site or online service
of material changes to the operator's privacy policy for that Web
site or online service.
   (4) Identify its effective date.
   (5) Disclose how the operator responds to Web browser "do not
track" signals or other mechanisms that provide consumers the ability
to exercise choice regarding the collection of personally
identifiable information about an individual consumer's online
activities over time and across third-party Web sites or online
services, if the operator engages in that collection.
   (6) Disclose whether other parties may collect personally
identifiable information about an individual consumer's online
activities over time and across different Web sites when a consumer
uses the operator's Web site or service.
   (7) An operator may satisfy the requirement of paragraph (5) by
providing a clear and conspicuous hyperlink in the operator's privacy
policy to an online location containing a description, including the
effects, of any program or protocol the operator follows that offers
the consumer that choice.