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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 19, 2002

For More Information, Contact:
Kristina Loquist at (916) 651-4011

SIMITIAN BILL TO “SUNSHINE” STATE DATA COLLECTION AND SHARING PRACTICES PASSED BY COMMITTEE

SACRAMENTO – Assemblyman Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Privacy, announced today that his legislation to enhance the privacy of Californians has cleared its first hurdle – passage in the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy on Tuesday, April 16th. Assembly Bill 2922 seeks to hold the State more accountable for its data collection and sharing practices by establishing the first ever California Personal Information Inventory.  The bill now moves to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

“Before we can say that the State is doing the best job possible protecting the privacy of Californians, we need to know what the current data collection and sharing practices are,” said Assemblyman Simitian. “Right now, the public has no way of knowing who’s collecting what information about them, or what’s being done with it. This bill is an effort to hold the State itself accountable for its privacy practices – and accountability starts with full disclosure.”

The Inventory will be compiled of data provided by all State agencies that collect personally identifiable information. It will contain a catalogue of the types of personal information collected, whether it is sold or otherwise released, and under what conditions.

This inventory will be housed in the State Office of Privacy Protection and will be available to the public in March 2004.  In addition to allowing the public to see what type of information the State collects, this bill will also help the Legislature to assess the appropriateness of current privacy protection measures.

Simitian observed, “It’s important that we in State government take seriously our obligation to protect the sensitive information we collect from the public. I think our obligation is that much greater when you consider that, unlike private sector situations, the public is often obliged by law to provide the State with personal information.”

 

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