Amended in Assembly April 24, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 179

Introduced by Assembly Members Bocanegra and Levine

January 24, 2013

An act to amend Section 31490 of, to amend the heading of Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 31490) of Division 17 of, and to amend the heading of Division 17 (commencing with Section 30000) of, the Streets and Highways Code, relating to transportation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 179, as amended, Bocanegra. Public transit: electronic transit fare collection systems: disclosure of personal information.

Existing law prohibits a transportation agency from selling or providing personally identifiable information of a person obtained through the person’s participation in an electronic toll collection system or use of a toll facility that uses an electronic toll collection system. Existing law, with certain exceptions, requires a transportation agency to discard personally identifiable information begin delete after 4 1/2 end delete begin insert within 4 end insert begin insert 1⁄2 end insert years, as specified. Existing law provides various remedies in that regard.

This bill would make these and other related provisions applicable to a transportation agency that employs an electronic transit fare collection system for payment of transit fares. begin delete The bill would require transportation agencies that obtain personally identifiable information of a person from electronic toll collection or electronic transit fare collection systems to discard that information after 6 months, as specified. end delete

By imposing new duties on local transportation agencies, the 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

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.  

The heading of Division 17 (commencing with
Section 30000) of the Streets and Highways Code is amended to
read:

 

Division 17.  TOLL FACILITIES AND RELATED
MATTERS

 

SEC. 2.  

The heading of Chapter 8 (commencing with Section
31490) of Division 17 of the Streets and Highways Code is
amended to read:

 

Chapter  8. Electronic Toll Collection and Electronic
Transit Fare Collection Systems

 

SEC. 3.  

Section 31490 of the Streets and Highways Code is
amended to read:

31490.  

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a
transportation agency may not sell or otherwise provide to any
other person or entity personally identifiable information of any
person who subscribes to an electronic toll or electronic transit
fare collection system or who uses a toll bridge, toll lane, or toll
highway that employs an electronic toll collection system or who
uses a public transportation system that employs an electronic
transit fare collection system.

(b) A transportation agency that employs an electronic toll
collection or an electronic transit fare collection system shall
establish a privacy policy regarding the collection and use of
personally identifiable information and provide to subscribers of
that system a copy of the privacy policy in a manner that is
conspicuous and meaningful, such as by providing a copy to the
subscriber with the transponder, electronic transit pass, or other
device used as an electronic toll or transit fare collection
mechanism, or, if the system does not use a mechanism, with the
application materials. A transportation agency shall conspicuously
post its privacy policy on its Internet Web site. For purposes of
this subdivision, “conspicuously post” has the same meaning as
that term is defined in paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive, of
subdivision (b) of Section 22577 of the Business and Professions
Code. The policy shall include, but need not be limited to, a
description of the following:

(1) The types of personally identifiable information that is
collected by the agency.

(2) The categories of third-party persons or entities with whom
the agency may share personally identifiable information.

(3) The process by which a transportation agency notifies
subscribers of material changes to its privacy policy.

(4) The effective date of the privacy policy.

(5) The process by which a subscriber may review and request
changes to any of his or her personally identifiable information.

(c) A transportation agency may, within practical business and
cost constraints, store only personally identifiable information of
a person such as, to the extent applicable, the account name, credit
card number, billing address, vehicle information, and other basic
account information required to perform account functions such
as billing, account settlement, or enforcement activities. All other
information shall be discarded no more than begin insert four years and end insert six
months after the billing cycle has concluded, the bill has been paid,
and all toll violations, if applicable, have been resolved.

(d) A transportation agency shall begin delete take end delete begin insert make end insert every effort, within
practical business and cost constraints, to purge the personal
account information of an account that is closed or terminated. In
no case shall a transportation agency maintain personal information
more than begin insert four years and end insert six months after the date an account is
closed or terminated.

(e) (1) A transportation agency may make personally
identifiable information of a person available to a law enforcement
agency only pursuant to a search warrant. Absent a provision in
the search warrant to the contrary, the law enforcement agency
shall immediately, but in any event within no more than five days,
notify the person that his or her records have been obtained and
shall provide the person with a copy of the search warrant and the
identity of the law enforcement agency or peace officer to whom
the records were provided.

(2) This section does not prohibit a peace officer, as defined in
Section 830.1 or 830.2 of the Penal Code, when conducting a
criminal or traffic collision investigation, from obtaining personally
identifiable information of a person if the officer has good cause
to believe that a delay in obtaining this information by seeking a
search warrant would cause an adverse result, as defined in
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 1524.2 of the Penal
Code.

(f) This section does not prohibit a transportation agency in
subdivision (a) from providing aggregated traveler information
derived from collective data that relates to a group or category of
persons from which personally identifiable information has been
removed.

(g) This section does not prohibit a transportation agency, with
respect to an electronic toll collection system, from providing the
license plate number of an intermodal chassis to the owner of the
chassis for purposes of locating the driver of the chassis in the
event the driver fails to pay a toll.

(h) This section, with respect to an electronic toll collection
system, does not prohibit a transportation agency from sharing
data with another transportation agency solely to comply with
interoperability specifications and standards adopted pursuant to
Section 27565 regarding electronic toll collection devices and
technologies. A third-party vendor may not use personally
identifiable information obtained under this subdivision for a
purpose other than described in this subdivision.

(i) Subdivision (d) shall not prohibit a transportation agency,
or its designee, from performing financial and accounting functions
such as billing, account settlement, enforcement, or other financial
activities required to operate and manage the toll facilities or transit
operations. begin insert This section, with respect to electronic transit fare
collection systems, does not prohibit the sharing of data between
transportation agencies for the sole purpose of interoperability
between those agencies. A third-party vendor may not use
personally identifiable information obtained under this subdivision
for a purpose other than as described in this subdivision. end insert

(j) This section does not prohibit a transportation agency from
communicating about products and services offered by itself, a
business partner, or the agency with which it contracts to
subscribers of the transportation agency through a contracted
third-party vendor using personally identifiable information limited
to the subscriber’s name, address, and electronic mail address,
provided that the transportation agency has received the
subscriber’s express written consent to receive the communications.

(k) A transportation agency may not use a nonsubscriber’s
personally identifiable information obtained using an electronic
toll collection or electronic transit fare collection system to market
products or services to that nonsubscriber. This subdivision shall
not apply to toll-related products or services contained in a notice
of toll evasion issued pursuant to Section 23302 of the Vehicle
Code.

(l) For purposes of this section, “transportation agency” means
the Department of Transportation, the Bay Area Toll Authority,
any entity operating a toll bridge, toll lane, or toll highway within
the state, any transportation agency administering an electronic
transit fare collection system and any transit operator participating
in that system, or any entity under contract with any of the above
entities.

(m) For purposes of this section, “electronic toll collection
system” is a system where a transponder, camera-based vehicle
identification system, or other electronic medium is used to deduct
payment of a toll from a subscriber’s account or to establish an
obligation to pay a toll, and “electronic transit fare collection
system” means a system for issuing an electronic transit pass that
enables a transit passenger subscriber to use the transit systems of
one or more participating transit operators without having to pay
individual fares, where fares are instead deducted from the
subscriber’s account as loaded onto the electronic transit pass.

(n) For purposes of this section, “person” means any person
who subscribes to an electronic toll collection or electronic transit
fare collection system or any person who uses a toll bridge, toll
lane, or toll road that employs an electronic toll collection system
or who uses a public transportation system that participates in an
electronic transit fare collection system.

(o) For purposes of this section, “personally identifiable
information” means any information that identifies or describes a
person including, but not limited to, travel pattern data, address,
telephone number, email address, license plate number, photograph,
bank account information, or credit card number.

(p) (1) In addition to any other remedies provided by law, a
person whose personally identifiable information has been
knowingly sold or otherwise provided in violation of this section
may bring an action to recover either actual damages or two
thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each individual
violation, whichever is greater, and may also recover reasonable
costs and attorney’s fees.

(2) A person whose personally identifiable information has been
knowingly sold or otherwise provided three or more times in
violation of this section may bring an action to recover either actual
damages or four thousand dollars ($4,000) for each individual
violation, whichever is greater, and may also recover reasonable
costs and attorney’s fees.

(q) Nothing in subdivisions (c) and (d) shall preclude compliance
with a court order or settlement agreement that has been approved
on or before April 25, 2010.

(r) A transportation agency that employs an electronic toll
collection or electronic transit fare collection system may impose
an administrative fee on persons who use those systems in an
amount sufficient to cover the cost of implementing this section.

SEC. 4.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section
17556 of the Government Code.