AB 1949: California Consumer Privacy Act of 2020: collection of personal information of a consumer less than 18 years of age.

Existing law, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2020 (CCPA), approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, requires a consumer, as defined, to have various rights with respect to personal information, as defined, that is collected or sold by a business, as defined, including the right to direct a business that sells or shares personal information about a consumer to third parties to not sell or share the consumers personal information. The act prohibits a business from selling or sharing the personal information of a consumer if the business has actual knowledge that the consumer is less than 16 years of age, unless the consumer, or the consumers parent or guardian, as applicable, has affirmatively authorized the sale or sharing of the consumers personal information.

This bill would remove the condition that instead prohibit a business from selling or sharing the personal information of a consumer if the business have has actual knowledge that the consumer is less than 16 18 years of age and would revise the above-described prohibition to prohibit a business from selling or sharing the personal information of a consumer over 13 years of age, but less than 18 years of age, unless the consumer, or the consumers parent or guardian, as applicable, has affirmatively authorized the sale or sharing of the consumers personal information, as specified. The bill would require a business to treat a consumer as under 18 years of age if the consumer, through a platform, technology, or mechanism, transmits a signal indicating that the consumer is less than 18 years of age.

The CCPA requires the Attorney General to solicit broad public participation and adopt regulations, as specified, to further the purposes of the act, including, but not limited to, regulations to establish technical specifications for an opt-out preference signal that allows the consumer, or the consumers parent or guardian, to specify that the consumer is less than 13 years of age, or at least 13 years of age and less than 16 years of age. The act requires the California Privacy Protection Agency, as specified, to adopt regulations under the authority assigned to the Attorney General under the act.

This bill would instead require the Attorney General to solicit broad public participation and adopt regulations, as described above, including, but not limited to, regulations to establish technical specifications for an opt-out preference signal that allows the consumer, or the consumers parent or guardian, to specify that the consumer is less than 13 years of age, or at least 13 years of age and less than 18 years of age. The bill would require the California Privacy Protection Agency, on or before July 1, 2025, to solicit broad public participation and adopt regulations, as specified, to further the purposes of the act, including, but not limited to, issuing regulations to establish technical specifications for an opt-out preference signal that allows the consumer, or the consumers parent or guardian, to specify that the consumer is less than 13 years of age, or at least 13 years of age and less than 18 years of age, and issuing regulations regarding age verification and when a business must treat a consumer as being less than 13 or 18 years of age for purposes of the CCPA.

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2020 authorizes the Legislature to amend the act to further the purposes and intent of the act by a majority vote of both houses of the Legislature, as specified.

This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2020.