BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 179
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 22, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 179 (Bocanegra) - As Amended: April 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)Specifically provides that, with respect to the prohibition
against sharing personally identifiable information, the
prohibition does not apply to the sharing of data between
transportation agencies for the sole purpose of providing
interoperability between the agencies.
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,
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with limited exceptions.
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.
AB 179
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11)Generally provides that video recordings made by security
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
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individual's movements. It's important to have clear and
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.
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
Opposition
Orange County Transportation Authority
Riverside Transit Agency
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093