BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 179
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Date of Hearing: April 22, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 179 (Bocanegra) - As Introduced: January 24, 2013
SUBJECT : Public transit fare collection systems: privacy
.
SUMMARY : Expands privacy protections currently afforded to
electronic toll collection subscribers to include users of
electronic transit fare collection systems. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Expands provisions of existing law related to ensuring the
privacy of electronic toll collection system subscribers to
include users of public transit systems that employ electronic
transit fare collections systems.
2)Shortens the time period, from 4 years and six months to six
months, for which transportation agencies are allowed to
retain personally identified information, with limited
exceptions.
3)Expands the definition of "transportation agency" to include
any transportation agency that administers an electronic
transit fare collection system and any transit operator
participating in that system.
4)Defines "electronic transit fare collection system" to mean a
system for issuing electronic transit passes that allow
passengers to use the transit systems of one or more transit
operators without having to pay individual fares.
EXISTING LAW:
1)For purposes of privacy provisions related to electronic toll
collections systems, defines "transportation agency" as the
Department of Transportation, 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.
2)Prohibits transportation agencies from selling or
disseminating personally identifiable information about
persons who subscribe to an electronic toll collection system,
with limited exceptions.
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3)Requires transportation agencies that use electronic toll
collection systems to establish privacy policies and to
provide those policies to subscribers.
4)Authorizes transportation agencies to store specific
account-related information such as an account holder's name,
credit card number, vehicle information, and billing address;
all other information must be discarded within four years and
six months after the closure date of the billing cycle and
after the bill has been paid and all toll violations, if
applicable, have been resolved.
5)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, a person that their information
has been obtained from a transportation agency.
7)Allows peace officers conducting criminal or traffic collision
investigations to obtain personally identifiable information
of subscribers without a search warrant if the officer has
good cause to believe that a delay in obtaining the
information via a search warrant would cause an adverse
result, as defined.
8)Allows transportation agencies to provide aggregated traveler
information derived from collective data that relates to a
group or category of subscribers, provided that personally
identifiable information has been removed.
9)Allows data to be shared among transportation agencies, in
order to comply with state inter-operability requirements for
electronic toll collection systems.
10)Authorizes a transportation agency to impose an
administrative fee to cover costs associated with implementing
these privacy requirements.
11)Generally provides that video recordings made by security
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systems on public transit systems must be retained for one
year.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The author introduced this bill to protect the
privacy of public transportation patrons who use an electronic
transit pass by limiting the use of personal information that is
collected every time the pass is swiped, or tapped. This bill's
introduction follows media accounts of privacy concerns related
to electronic fare collection systems.
One such system is the "Clipper" card system used in the San
Francisco Bay Area. The Clipper card allows a transit user to
pay fares on multiple transit systems using one card. Users can
add value to their card at any point or they can set up their
card to automatically reload whenever their pass expires or
their cash balance falls below $10. Users of the Clipper card
are not required to register their card, however. If a card is
unregistered, use of the system is linked to the card's serial
number only and the system has no personal information about the
cardholder.
The Clipper card privacy policy states that, for patrons who
choose to register their Clipper card, their personally
identifiable information may be disclosed to third-party service
providers (e.g., contractor personnel who operate and maintain
the Clipper card service) for the purpose of operating and
maintaining the Clipper system; otherwise, personal information
is not to be disclosed to third parties, except as required by
law, ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction, or where the
express written consent of the cardholder has been obtained.
The Transit Access Pass system in the Los Angeles area and the
Compass card system in the San Diego area operate similar to the
Clipper card system and both have nearly identical privacy
policies.
Writing in support of AB 179, the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) argues, "Location privacy issues are of serious concern
to the ACLU. [AB 179] extends the privacy protections already
in place to another transit system that creates and stores
digital records of people's movements. Divorce lawyers and law
enforcement agencies are very interested in obtaining records of
individual's movements. It's important to have clear and
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consistent standards in place."
Opponents of this bill raise a number of concerns related to
safety, data retention, and interoperability. For example, both
the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) and the
Riverside Transit Agency are opposing the bill, in part, because
they believe the bill will hinder their ability to share video
surveillance information captured on its buses with police
without a search warrant or good cause. Both agencies are
concerned that delaying the release of this information poses a
safety risk to the community by impeding successful apprehension
of criminals or successful recovery of missing persons.
Opponents also assert that this bill establishes arbitrary data
retention deadlines and purge requirements (from four years and
six months to six months) that are costly to implement, harm
their ability to provide customer service, and create legal
complications that will create hardships for both their
customers and their agencies.
Finally, OCTA is concerned that this bill is silent with regard
to authorizing data to be shared between transit operators for
purposes of interoperability. It asserts that, since
interoperability is specifically authorized for electronic toll
collections systems, lack of similar provisions for electronic
fare collection systems may imply that such interoperability
amongst transit operators is not authorized.
Suggested amendments:
1)There is ambiguity about whether the bill's provisions apply
to the use and release of video surveillance data. Other
provisions exist elsewhere in statute to govern video
surveillance data retention requirements for public transit
systems but it is unclear what, if any, provisions are in
place to prohibit the release of these data (for example, just
to law enforcement and only with a warrant). The author may
wish to clarify this issue.
2)The issue of allowable data retention periods was argued
vociferously in 2010 when SB 1268 (Simitian) was being debated
before the Legislature. SB 1268 originally proposed to allow
transportation agencies only 60 days to purge data.
Transportation agencies strongly opposed that provision,
arguing that, under an existing four-year statute of
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limitations for civil actions, shortened data retention
periods would allow consumers to question their toll charges
for up to four years after the date of the activity but would
remove the opportunity for toll operators to retain
information to support charging the tolls or to otherwise
provide documented evidence to establish a defense in a civil
action. SB 1268 later passed the Legislature and was signed
by the Governor (Chapter 489, 2010) with a four year, six
months data retention limit.
Like SB 1268 proposed initially, this bill would impose overly
aggressive purge requirements. The allowable data retention
period should be restored to existing law (i.e., to four years
and six months) so it mirrors the timeframes set forth in the
statute of limitations. This will provide a regular, routine
purging of personal data but within timeframes that do not
invite jeopardy for transportation agencies in civil actions.
The author has indicated his intent to take an amendment in
committee to restore the data retention period to four years
and six months.
3)Regarding interoperability between transit operators that use
electronic fare collection systems, the author may wish to
clarify that, with respect to these systems, the bill does not
prohibit the sharing of data between transportation agencies
for the sole purpose of interoperability between the agencies.
Previous legislation : AB 839, Chapter 564, Statutes of 2003,
provides that videotapes or recordings made by a security camera
system operated as part of a public transit system must be
retained for one year.
SB 1268 (Simitian) Chapter 489, Statutes of 2010, imposed
privacy protections on electronic toll collection systems.
Double Referral : This bill is also referred to the Assembly
Judiciary Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Civil Liberties Union
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
AB 179
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Opposition
Orange County Transportation Authority
Riverside Transit Agency
Transportation Corridor Agencies of Orange County
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093