BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1268
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SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1268 (Simitian)
As Amended August 2, 2010
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :24-10
TRANSPORTATION 10-2 JUDICIARY 10-0
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|Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Feuer, Tran, Brownley, |
| |Blumenfield, Buchanan, | |Evans, Hagman, Huffman, |
| |Eng, Galgiani, Hayashi, | |Jones, Knight, Monning, |
| |Niello, Norby, | |Saldana |
| |Portantino, Solorio | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Bill Berryhill, Miller | | |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 16-0
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|Ayes:|Fuentes, Conway, | | |
| |Bradford, | | |
| |Charles Calderon, Coto, | | |
| |Davis, | | |
| |De Leon, Gatto, Hall, | | |
| |Miller, Nielsen, Norby, | | |
| |Skinner, Solorio, | | |
| |Torlakson, Torrico | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Prohibits transportation agencies from selling or
disseminating personal information of their subscribers, with
exceptions; imposes penalties for breaching this restriction.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Prohibits transportation agencies from selling or
disseminating personal information about persons who subscribe
to electronic toll or fare payment systems.
2)Requires transportation agencies that use electronic toll
collection systems to establish privacy policies and to
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provide those policies to subscribers.
3)Requires privacy policies to address, at a minimum, the
following:
a) The type of information collected by the transportation
agency;
b) The types of third-party persons or entities with whom
the transportation agency may share personal information;
c) The process by which subscribers are informed of changes
in the privacy policy;
d) The effective date of the privacy policy; and,
e) The process by which a subscriber may review their own
personal information.
4)Authorizes transportation agencies to store specific account
related information such as an account holder's name, credit
card number, and billing addresses; beginning July 1, 2011,
all other information must be discarded no later than four
years and six months after the closure date of a billing cycle
and the bill has been paid and all toll violations, if
applicable, have been resolved.
5)Beginning July 1, 2011, requires transportation agencies to
make every effort to purge data on closed accounts; in no case
may data be stored longer than four years and six months after
an account has been closed or terminated.
6)Allows transportation agencies to make personally identifiable
information available to law enforcement agencies, pursuant to
a search warrant; generally requires a law enforcement agency
to notify within five days someone that their information has
been obtained from the transportation agency.
7)Allows peace officers conducting criminal or traffic collision
investigations to obtain personally identifiable information
of subscribers if the officer has good cause to believe that a
delay in obtaining the information via a search warrant may
result in an imminent danger to the health or safety of a
member of the public; requires that notice of obtaining the
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data be given to the subscriber, with exceptions.
8)Allows transportation agencies to provide aggregated traveler
information that relates to a group or category of
subscribers, provided that personally identifiable information
has been removed.
9)Allows the sharing of data among transportation agencies in
order to comply with state inter-operability requirements for
electronic toll collection systems.
10)Allows transportation agencies to communicate to their
subscribers exclusively about their products and services
through contracted third party vendors using the subscribers'
names and addresses, provided that the transportation agency,
for customer agreements entered into on or after January 1,
2011, has received the subscriber's express written consent to
receive the communication.
11)For purposes of these provisions, defines "transportation
agency" as the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans), the Bay Area Toll Authority, any entity operating
a toll bridge, toll lane, or toll highway, or any entity
operating under contract with such an agency.
12)Defines other key terms.
13)Provides that a breach in the use of personal information may
result in an action to recover actual damages or $2,500,
whichever is greater, for each individual violation, in
addition to attorney's fees.
14)If a person's information has been knowingly sold or
otherwise provided three or more times, increases the penalty
to actual damages or $4,000, whichever is greater, in addition
to attorney's fees.
15)Stipulates that this bill's provisions do not preclude
compliance with a specific court-ordered settlement agreement.
16)Authorizes a transportation agency to impose an
administrative fee to cover costs associated with implementing
these privacy requirements.
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EXISTING LAW authorizes Caltrans, cities, counties, public
transit agencies, and special districts to assess tolls and
fares for the use of transportation facilities under their
respective jurisdictions.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, no impact to Caltrans, as such personal identifiable
information is kept by the local transportation agencies that
operate toll systems. Any costs to local transportation
agencies can be covered through administrative fees authorized
in the bill.
COMMENTS: According to the author, SB 1268 is intended to
protect the privacy of motorists in California by controlling
the use of personal information that is collected and stored by
electronic toll collection systems. The author states that SB
1268 provides important privacy protections to drivers by: 1)
prohibiting a transportation agency that operates a toll
facility from releasing or selling personal identifying
information of subscribers to an automatic toll collecting
service; and, 2) establishing a data retention period for how
long agencies can retain personal information in their systems.
Supporters of this bill suggest that California has witnessed a
growing trend of attorneys, law enforcement agencies, and other
entities requesting and obtaining data on electronic toll
collection system users via a subpoena. They support the
personal information protections provided for in SB 1268.
Transportation agencies generally support this bill's provisions
related to privacy protections for their toll customers.
Previously raised concerns, that the length of time personal
data can be stored should be consistent with the statue of
limitations for civil actions, appear to have been eliminated
with amendments taken to the bill that allow personal data to be
stored up to four and a half years.
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0005661
SB 1268
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