California State Senator, Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), who authored the state’s existing data breach law in 2002, has introduced Senate Bill 24 to strengthen the content of notices provided to individuals when their personal information has been hacked, stolen or lost. If passed, Senate Bill 24 proposes to offer individuals better protection against identity theft by standardizing the content for data breach notification, including (i) a general description of the incident, (ii) the type of information breached, (iii) the date and time of the breach and (iv) a toll-free telephone number of major credit reporting agencies for security breach notices in California. Senate Bill 24 would also require public agencies, businesses and others to send a copy of the breach notification to the California Attorney General if more than 500 Californians are affected by a single breach. Former Governor Arnold Swarzenegger vetoed similar legislation introduced by Senator Simitian.
