Alastair Mactaggart, Founder & Chair of Californians for Consumer Privacy, announced that he intends to file a ballot initiative – the California Privacy Enforcement Act – to appear on the November 2020 ballot. According to his press release, the new law would:
- Create new rights around the use and sale of sensitive personal information, such as health and financial information, racial or ethnic origin, and precise geolocation;
- Triple the CCPA’s fines for violating the law’s requirements governing the collection and sale of children’s private information and require opt-in consent to collect data from consumers under the age of 16;
- Require transparency around automated decision-making and profiling;
- Establish a new authority to protect the privacy rights;
- Amend election disclosure laws to require corporations to disclose whether, and how, they use personal information to influence elections; and
- Require that future amendments be in furtherance of the law.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Mactaggart intends to spend as much as $3 million collecting over 600,000 signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2020 ballot. Those familiar with the CCPA’s history will know that Mactaggart’s initial ballot initiative drove the ultimate passage of the CCPA legislation in June 2018. The fact that he is once-again pursuing a ballot initiative is not to be taken lightly.