BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 819
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Jose Medina, Chair
AB 819
(Irwin) - As Introduced February 26, 2015
SUBJECT: Public postsecondary education: alumni associations
SUMMARY: Removes the sunset date on current law which permits
the California State University (CSU), the University of
California (UC), and Hastings College of the Law (HCL), to
disclose the names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of alumni to
their "affinity partners" (nonaffiliated businesses with whom
the university has a contractual agreement to, among other
things, offer commercial products and services to alumni),
subject to specified privacy requirements; and, makes changes to
the existing disclosure form that the CSU, UC, and HCL must
distribute, as specified. Specifically, this bill:
1)Specifies that the disclosure form that the CSU, UC, and HCL
distribute, per existing law, on behalf of their affinity
programs, may be provided as a separate document, incorporated
into another communication piece intended for the target
audience, or through a link to the form located on the
Internet Web site of the CSU Trustees and/or UC Regents, the
affected alumni association, or the affected auxiliary
organization.
2)Requires that if the disclosure form is provided through a
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link to an Internet Web page, the form shall be accompanied by
the title "IMPORTANT PRIVACY CHOICE" and a clear and concise
description of the choice that can be made by accessing the
form. Clarifies that said requirement may be met by using
text materially similar, as specified.
3)Makes clarifying and technical changes to existing law.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Contains a body of statutes, known as the "California
Information Practices Act of 1977" (CIPA), which prohibits an
individual's name and address from being distributed for
commercial purposes or being sold or rented by a state office,
officer, department, division, bureau, board, commission or
other state agency, unless such action is specifically
authorized by law (Civil Code Section 1798.60).
2)Establishes the California Financial Information Privacy Act
which prohibits financial institutions from sharing or selling
personally identifiable nonpublic information without
obtaining a consumer's consent, as specified. The Act
requires that a consumer consent to an "opt in" for sharing
private information with an unaffiliated third party, and
requires that consumers be given the opportunity to "opt out"
of sharing private information with financial institution's
affiliates. Under the act, when a financial institution and
an affinity partner (i.e. an organization or business entity
that is not a financial institution) have an agreement to
issue an affinity card (i.e. a credit card in the name of the
affinity partner) or other financial product or service,
disclosure of information is generally limited to provision of
name, address, telephone number, and electronic mail address.
To note, such disclosure is
permitted only if specified notice requirements are met
and the consumer has not "opted out"
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of the sharing of the information (Financial Code Section
4054.6).
3)Permits UC, CSU, and HCL to release the names and addresses of
their alumni to businesses with whom they have
affinity-partner agreements, providing certain privacy
requirements are met. To note, these provisions are scheduled
to sunset on January 1, 2016 (Education Code Sections 89090
and 92630).
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: Background. Senate Bill 569 (Torlakson), Chapter
498, Statues of 2005, authorized CSU, UC, and HCL to allow the
controlled disclosure of alumni names and addresses to
businesses that are "affinity partners" of those universities.
In support of SB 569, CSU and UC stated that "public
universities throughout the country, private institutions and
non-profit organizations in California, commonly use affinity
programs to help generate non-state funded monies through
partnerships that offer benefits and services (such as credit
cards, insurance products, loans, extension classes, test-prep
courses) to alumni." They argued that SB 569 would address an
inequity between private universities and non-profits and
California's public universities. AB 1971 (Bonnie Lowenthal),
Chapter 2014, Statutes of 2010, extends the authority provided
in SB 569 until January 1, 2016.
Affinity programs. Affinity programs provide a means whereby a
tax-exempt organization may generate funds by allowing the use
of its name and/or logo to endorse products or services. In the
case of UC and CSU, through partnerships with commercial
entities, affinity programs allow alumni organizations to offer
a variety of financial products to graduates and alumni members,
such as group rates and discounts for home and auto insurance,
mortgage programs, credit cards, and other credit lines. In
return for allowing access to alumni association mailing lists,
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the affinity partner pays a fee to the campus association.
Purpose of this measure. According to the author, the
authorization for the CSU and UC to operate their affinity
programs sunsets on January 1, 2016. The affinity programs and
services give campuses of the CSU and UC the ability to remain
in contact with their alumni and keep them involved. The author
states, "AB 819 will reauthorize the CSU and UCs' affinity
programs, which allows for the sharing of alumni mailing and
e-mail addresses with companies that are in a contractual
relationship with the university. The bill provides and retains
protections for the program such as the ability to opt-out,
privacy protections, and the University approval of contracts."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California State Student Association
California State University
University of California
Opposition
None on file.
AB 819
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Analysis Prepared by:Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960