We have previously written about California SB 561 here, introduced by Senator Jackson (D) and supported by the California Attorney General (AG), that among other things would vastly expand the CCPA's private right of action and remove the right to cure before the AG can seek civil penalties. On April 9 the California Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the bill, a recording of which is available here. The committee voted 6 to 2 to refer the bill to the Senate Appropriations Committee. There was concern expressed by some members of the committee, including some that voted in favor of moving the bill forward, as to the scope of the private right of action, its impact on businesses and the ambiguity of the current text. Senator Jackson promised to work with stakeholders to explore potential refinement of the private right of action so long as it maintained the ability for consumers whose CCPA privacy rights are violated (the current law restricts the private right of action to certain types of data security breaches) to seek meaningful redress and not have to rely on the AG to enforce the CCPA. It was noted that the restriction of the private right of action was fundamental to the compromise that lead to the bill, however, Senator Jacksons and others rejected that as not relevant, or at least not binding. We had previously encouraged further limitation of the private right of action. It appears that quite the opposite may be on its way to fruition. We will continue to monitor its progress.
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