BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 819|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 819
Author: Irwin (D), et al.
Introduced:2/26/15
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 8-0, 6/17/15
AYES: Liu, Runner, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Monning, Pan, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Mendoza
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/14/15 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Public postsecondary education: alumni associations
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill eliminates the sunset on the authority of
the California State University (CSU) and the University of
California (UC) to distribute the names and addresses of alumni
for purposes of participation in affinity programs, expands the
opt-out disclosure methods which may be used, and eliminates
related obsolete reporting requirements.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Prohibits, the California Financial Information Privacy Act
(Act), 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
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private information with an unaffiliated third party, and
requires that consumers be given the opportunity to "opt out"
of sharing private information with a 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. Such
disclosure is permitted only if specified notice requirements
are met and the consumer has not "opted out" of the sharing of
the information. (Financial Code § 4054.6)
2)Authorizes, until January 1, 2016, the governing bodies and
alumni associations of the CSU and UC to distribute the names
and addresses of alumni to businesses with whom they have
affinity-partner agreements if specified privacy and
disclosure requirements are met. These provisions apply to
the UC only to the extent that the regents adopt a resolution
doing so. (Education Code § 89090 and § 92360)
This bill:
1)Deletes the sunset on the authority extended to the governing
bodies and alumni associations of the CSU and the UC to
distribute the names and addresses of alumni to businesses
with whom they have affinity-partner agreements.
2)Deletes the requirement that the "opt out" form, which the
institution must provide as part of the requirement that
alumni be noticed that personal information may be disclosed,
be a separate document.
3)Expands the opt-out disclosure mediums which may be used to
include any of the following, as specified:
a) A separate document.
b) Incorporation into another communication piece intended
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for the target audience.
c) An Internet Web link to the form on the Trustees or
Regents Web site, or the affected alumni or auxiliary
association, as applicable.
4)Deletes obsolete reporting requirements.
Comments
1)Affinity programs. Existing law authorizes the disclosure of
private information by the CSU and UC for purposes of
participation in affinity programs. An affinity program
provides 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 the 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, the affinity partner pays a fee to the campus
association.
2)History. When the California Financial Information Privacy Act
(CFIPA), which prohibits financial institutions from sharing
or selling personally identifiable nonpublic information
without obtaining a consumer's consent, was enacted, it
required that a consumer consent to an "opt in" for sharing
private information with an unaffiliated third party, and
required that consumers be given the opportunity to "opt out"
of sharing private information with a financial institution's
affiliates.
Although the UC and CSU report that their alumni associations
had been executing affinity agreements for more than 20 years,
the enactment of the CFIPA, coupled with the existing
prohibition on the distribution of personal information under
the California Information Practices Act of 1977 (CIPA),
resulted in ambiguity about the authority of agencies subject
to the CIPA to enter into affinity agreements with financial
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institutions. SB 569 (Torlakson, Chapter 498, Statutes of
2005) was enacted to specifically authorize the UC and CSU to
distribute the names and addresses of alumni for participation
in affinity programs until 2011, subject to specified notice
and disclosure requirements.
3)Reporting requirements. The authority granted by SB 569 was
extended to January 1, 2016, by subsequent legislation, which
also declared the Legislature's intent that the CSU and UC
report on the implementation of affinity partnership
agreements to the Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees by
July 1, 2014. Among other things, the report was to include a
survey of affinity partnership agreements, information on how
many alumni have opted out of the agreements, and whether the
individual institution is complying with the opt out
requirements.
According to the UC report, affinity program revenue has
supported student scholarships, created programs and
communications designed to build a greater sense of UC
community, volunteerism and philanthropy, and developed
activities for alumni and student career networking,
continuing education and community volunteerism. The number of
alumni opting out of information sharing ranges from a low of
1,702 at UC Davis to a high of 68,603 at UC Berkeley.
According to the CSU report, among other things, at the
systemwide level the CSU has developed an optional toll-free
opt-out telephone line which is currently used by 13 of the
CSU campuses. Of its more than 2.8 million alumni, about
258,000 have opted out from information sharing.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.: Yes Local: No
SUPPORT: (Verified6/30/15)
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California State Student Association
California State University
University of California
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/30/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/14/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Linder, Medina
Prepared by:Kathleen Chavira / ED. / (916) 651-4105
6/30/15 14:00:39
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