California’s Attorney General to U.S. Senate: Don’t Preempt CCPA

Last week, California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in a hearing entitled, “Revisiting the Need for Data Privacy Legislation”. Becerra’s testimony included a request that the Senate not preempt the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) by passing a federal data privacy law.

A new federal data privacy law

Becerra stated that “the optimal federal legal framework recognizes that privacy protections must keep pace with innovation, the hallmark of our data-driven economy. State law is the backbone of consumer privacy in the United States. Federal law serves as the glue that ties our communities together.” Becerra referred to CCPA as “a game changer” and pointed to examples of how the regulation has been and is being enforced against noncompliant companies.

He encouraged Congress to set a “federal privacy protection floor rather than a ceiling, allowing my state and others that may follow the opportunity to provide further protections tailored to our residents.” If they decide to draft mandatory federal data privacy legislation, Becerra suggested the committee to “look to the states as sources of nimble innovation and expertise in data privacy, and to value protections, like the CCPA, that states have already developed.” Additionally, Becerra recommended that, should a new federal law be drafted, it should include a “private right of action to complement and fortify the work of state enforcers.” Becerra considers such a measure to be critical to deterrence and the creation of meaningful consequences for noncompliant companies.

Given Becerra’s testimony, it appears that his position, and by extension that of California, is that while data privacy should be a concern of the federal government it is a matter best dealt with, and enforced by, state regulators.

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