U.S. Congress shouldn't preempt
California privacy law: state official
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[November 29, 2018]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - California
Attorney General Xavier Becerra warned on Wednesday that the U.S.
Congress should not pass a relatively weak online privacy bill to
protect consumer data and use it to take precedence over a new
California law.
Big tech companies are pushing for a federal bill to preempt
California's law, which Governor Jerry Brown signed into law in June but
whose provisions are not due to go into effect until 2020.
"Do no harm simply means don't stop good work, good practices that have
already occurred in the states by preempting the states from doing the
things that have worked," Becerra told Reuters in an interview.
California's law gives consumers more control over how companies collect
and manage their personal information, including allowing them to
request that data be deleted and to opt out of having their data sold to
third parties.
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U.S. lawmakers are drafting a privacy bill, expected to be finished
early in the next session of Congress, that might, for example, allow
the government to fine companies for misusing consumer data or allowing
it to be stolen.
Becerra on Wednesday also noted the importance of supporting an industry
that has led to the creation of wildly successful companies like
Facebook and Alphabet Inc's Google, both of which are based in
California.
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![](../images/112918pics/news_h15.jpg)
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra speaks about President
Trump's proposal to weaken national greenhouse gas emission and fuel
efficiency regulations, at a media conference in Los Angeles,
California, U.S. August 2, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
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He noted that California, in 2003, was the first state to have a law
requiring that consumers be notified in the case of data breach.
Becerra said that state attorneys general met earlier this month to
discuss the role of antitrust in a data-driven, high-tech economy,
and said they were "trying to figure it out." He did not identify
any of the states in the meeting.
"We want to make sure that we don't stifle an industry that has
created some tremendous opportunities in employment," he said. "At
the same time, we're not interested in seeing breaches in personal
information that are causing a lot of consumers real harm."
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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