California Attorney General Releases Proposed CCPA Regulations  

In a press release, the Attorney General of California announced the release of proposed regulations under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).  The law mandates that on or before July 1, 2020, the Office of the Attorney General promulgate and adopt implementing regulations for the CCPA.  Comments on the proposed regulations may be submitted by December 6, 2019.  The Attorney General will also hold four public hearings.   

Businesses are subject to the CCPA if one or more of the following are true: (1) It has gross annual revenues in excess of $25 million; (2) It buys, receives, or sells the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households, or devices;  (3) It derives 50 percent or more of annual revenues from selling consumers’ personal information.  Under the proposed  regulations, businesses that handle the personal information of more than 4 million consumers will have additional obligations. 

The CCPA includes the following key requirements: 

• Businesses must disclose data collection and sharing practices to consumers; 
• Consumers have a right to request that their data be deleted; Consumers have a right to opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal information; and  
• Businesses are prohibited from selling personal information of consumers under the age of 16 without explicit consent. 

The proposed regulations are intended to operationalize the CCPA and provide practical guidance to consumers and businesses subject to the law.  The regulations would address some of the open issues raised by the CCPA and would be subject to enforcement by the Department of Justice with remedies provided under the law.  The proposed regulations were drafted after a broad and inclusive preliminary rulemaking process, which included seven public forums held throughout the state and a public comment period during which the office received over 300 written comments. 

“Knowledge is power, and in the internet age knowledge is derived from data.  Our personal data is what powers today’s data-driven economy and the wealth it generates.  It’s time we had control over the use of our personal data.  That includes keeping it private,” said Attorney General Becerra.  “We take a historic step forward today to protect Californians’ inalienable right to privacy.  Once again, California leads the way putting people first in the Age of the Internet.” 

A copy of the California Consumer Privacy Act Proposed Regulations and other related documents can be found at www.oag.ca.gov/ccpa.  A Fact Sheet is also attached to the electronic version of this release here.   

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The Regulatory Mix Today: California Attorney General Releases Proposed CCPA Regulations, Pennsylvania PUC Highlights Efforts to Secure Federal Broadband Funding 

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Pennsylvania PUC Highlights Efforts to Secure Federal Broadband Funding 

The PUC highlighted its most recent efforts to secure federal funding for increased rural broadband deployment across the Commonwealth, while also urging concerned residents, businesses and other stakeholders to contact the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the newly proposed Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RUDOF).  

In response to the RUDOF proceeding, the PUC, along with the state’s Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) and the Office of Small Business Advocate (OSBA), recently filed joint comments at the FCC reflecting Pennsylvania’s ongoing efforts to increase access to high speed internet service in underserved areas in the Commonwealth – while also raising concerns about ensuring that the federal funding process gives initial priority to unserved communities. 

In their comments, the PUC, OCA and OSBA noted that Pennsylvania currently has at least 29,739 residential or business locations that do not have, or are not on schedule to receive, broadband access service at a download speed of at least 10 Megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speed of 1 Mbps (10/1) much less than the FCC’s currently defined broadband speeds of 25/3 Mbps. 

These locations include areas where two incumbent carriers in Pennsylvania previously declined support, triggering a federal auction in 2018 in which some locations received no bids to provide service.  This translates to millions of dollars of federal support, which the PUC, OCA and OSBA are trying to attract to and retain for Pennsylvania. 

As proposed, the RUDOF will make available up to $20.4 billion in federal universal service support throughout the U.S. over a ten-year period using a reverse auction. The auction will provide support to bidders who agree to provide voice and broadband service at a minimum of 25/3 Mbps to around four million rural homes and small businesses. 

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.