Legislature(2021 - 2022)BARNES 124
01/21/2022 03:15 PM House LABOR & COMMERCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB159 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 159 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE LABOR AND COMMERCE STANDING COMMITTEE
January 21, 2022
3:16 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Zack Fields, Co-Chair (via teleconference)
Representative Ivy Spohnholz, Co-Chair
Representative Calvin Schrage
Representative Liz Snyder
Representative James Kaufman
Representative Ken McCarty
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative David Nelson
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HOUSE BILL NO. 159
"An Act establishing the Consumer Data Privacy Act; establishing
data broker registration requirements; making a violation of the
Consumer Data Privacy Act an unfair or deceptive trade practice;
and providing for an effective date."
- HEARD & HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 159
SHORT TITLE: CONSUMER DATA PRIVACY ACT
SPONSOR(s): RULES BY REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR
03/31/21 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
03/31/21 (H) L&C, JUD, FIN
04/23/21 (H) L&C AT 8:00 AM GRUENBERG 120
04/23/21 (H) Heard & Held
04/23/21 (H) MINUTE(L&C)
05/05/21 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM BARNES 124
05/05/21 (H) Heard & Held
05/05/21 (H) MINUTE(L&C)
05/12/21 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM BARNES 124
05/12/21 (H) Heard & Held
05/12/21 (H) MINUTE(L&C)
12/06/21 (H) L&C AT 1:00 PM ANCH LIO DENALI Rm
12/06/21 (H) Heard & Held
12/06/21 (H) MINUTE(L&C)
01/21/22 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM BARNES 124
WITNESS REGISTER
TRISTAN WALSH, Staff
Representative Fields
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Offered the Sectional Analysis on behalf of
Representative Fields, prime sponsor.
MAUREEN MAHONEY, Senior Policy Analyst
Consumer Reports
San Francisco, California
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions during the hearing on HB
159.
MICHAEL GARVEY, Director
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 159.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:16:46 PM
CO-CHAIR IVY SPOHNHOLZ called the House Labor and Commerce
Standing Committee meeting to order at 3:16 p.m.
Representatives Spohnholz, Schrage, Snyder, Kaufman, Fields (via
teleconference), and McCarty were present at the call to order.
HB 159-CONSUMER DATA PRIVACY ACT
3:17:32 PM
CO-CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ announced that the only order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 159, "An Act establishing the Consumer
Data Privacy Act; establishing data broker registration
requirements; making a violation of the Consumer Data Privacy
Act an unfair or deceptive trade practice; and providing for an
effective date."
3:18:00 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHRAGE moved to adopt the proposed committee
substitute (CS) for HB 159, Version 32-GH1573\I, Bannister,
1/14/22, as the working document. There being no objection,
Version I was before the committee.
3:18:38 PM
CO-CHAIR FIELDS explained the changes that were made in the
committee substitute. He said that the exceptions were adjusted
to ensure that businesses providing tangible goods and services
in Alaska would not be unintentionally covered under the bill,
which would include everything from logistics to construction to
retail companies. He noted that that would not be the intent of
this bill, and therefore it was rewritten to ensure that there
were no unintentionally burdensome regulations. The second
change that was made, he continued, was the strengthening of the
language around individuals' biometric information. He said
that this is an area where there's been rapidly evolving
technology in corresponding changes to necessary laws to protect
people's biometric information. He added that the language
regarding protection of minors has also been strengthened, in
addition to the language around enforcement. He stated that the
importance of these topics has been communicated by consumer
rights and privacy advocates during 2021.
3:20:15 PM
TRISTAN WALSH, Staff, Representative Fields, Alaska State
Legislature, offered the Sectional Analysis on behalf of
Representative Fields, prime sponsor of HB 159. He presented
the Sectional Analysis [hard copy included in committee packets]
which read as follows [original punctuation provided]:
1. Sec 9: p 8, lines 21-26: Consolidated AS 45.48.805
(a) and (b) into (e); renamed accordingly. (It is now
(c))
2. Sec 9: p 12, lines 9 and 10: Conforming change.
Inserted "share or disclose" following "sell'.
3. Sec 9: p 13, line 19: Conforming change. Insert
",disclose, use or" following "sell".
4. Sec 9, p 19, line 14: AS 45.48.865(e) expanded
exemptions to include all business types.
5. Sec 9: p 22; line 28: Replace "On or before January
31 following each calendar year that a business is a
data broker" with "Before a business begins operating
as a data broker". This eliminates a period where a
business could engage in these activities without
having to register as a data broker with the
department.
3:24:22 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SNYDER asked Mr. Walsh to explain the
distinctions between excluded business types, and to provide any
specifics regarding the characteristics of impacted businesses,
such as the size and location of the business.
MR. WALSH responded that if there was a one-time transaction in
which the business is using the transaction to fulfill a
consumer's request, the business would be exempt from this
legislation. He said that there are protections within the
legislation for services that are reasonably related to the
service that the consumer is requestion. For example, he said,
if a consumer joins a rewards club for groceries, it would be
reasonable to expect solicitations for grocery discounts. He
explained that the explicit exceptions in the legislation were
intended to ensure that the internal conduct of companies and
corporations that are not necessarily involved in the outward
sale, share, or disclosure of consumers' information is not
impaired.
3:26:16 PM
CO-CHAIR FIELDS added that the first version of the bill, which
was introduced by the administration, had some dollar and volume
figures of individual's private information that was being
"shared". In Version I, that threshold was changed to only
cover companies that primarily deal in buying and selling
consumer information, or specifically perform a high volume of
data activity. Companies that simply have a lot of consumers'
private information would not be impacted by the legislation in
its current form, he explained.
3:28:28 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN asked for an explanation of how it will
be ensured that the most up-to-date standards are being
satisfied by this legislation, and that it won't soon become
obsolete.
3:29:06 PM
MAUREEN MAHONEY, Senior Policy Analyst, Consumer Reports,
responded that the bill would provide strong protection for the
consumers and would be at the "cutting edge" of these
protections because, by default, it would protect consumers'
privacy. She added that companies would be limited in the
collection and sharing of data to what is reasonably necessary
to provide a consumer's request of service. She expressed her
understanding that the unnecessary collection and sharing of
data is the source of many of the problems of consumers online.
She said that legislation in other states like California is
based on an "opt-out" model, which requires consumers to reach
out to every single company that is collecting and sharing data,
which she said is seemingly not worth it for consumers.
3:30:58 PM
MICHAEL GARVEY, Director, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
of Alaska, testified in support of HB 159. He spoke about the
critical need for civil rights protections that legislation like
this offer. He said that committee members may have read about
discriminatory advertisements for housing or employment as
companies collect more and more personal information, and as the
use of automated decision systems grows, he expressed that the
potential for harm caused by the use of that personal
information can increase as well. He shared his understanding
that, ideally, consumer privacy legislation should prohibit
companies from using personal information in a manner that
discriminates against people on the basis of race, gender sexual
orientation, gender identity, and other protected
characteristics, ensuring that civil rights are protected online
and everywhere. He noted that examples of this can be found in
strong consumer privacy legislation elsewhere in the country,
like the People's Privacy Act in the State of Washington, or in
the State of Massachusetts, the Information Privacy Act.
MR. GARVEY continued that the legislation also contains many key
concepts related to consumer privacy that ACLU finds important,
such as the private right of action, attention to biometric data
prohibition of dark patterns, and retaliation provisions to
prevent preferential pricing and economic conversion of
customers. He shared that the ACLU is still reviewing
legislative language of these provisions expressed appreciation
to the committee for its hard work and recognizing the
importance of those provisions. He added that he would also
second the importance of an opt-in model versus an opt-out
model.
3:33:31 PM
CO-CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ announced that HB 159 was held over.
3:35:04 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Labor and Commerce Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at
3:35 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 159 ver. I 1.20.22.pdf |
HL&C 1/21/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 159 |
| HB 159 Letter of Opposition - CCAGW 1.18.22.pdf |
HL&C 1/21/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 159 |
| HB 159 Summary of Changes Ver B to Ver I 1.20.2022.pdf |
HL&C 1/21/2022 3:15:00 PM |
HB 159 |