Pub. 1 2019-2020 Issue 2

19 manipulation of time, so the dealer- ship and its employees are fairly compensated for labor. • Responds to continuous manu- facturer requirements to upgrade existing facilities, like a dealership’s flooring, façade, and paint colors, by providing that a required facility improvement is not reasonable if the dealer has modified their facility in the last 10 years, unless facility improve- ments are necessary to the sale and service of ZEVs, compliance with health and safety laws or specialized equipment to repair vehicles. • Addresses unfair “single source” ven- dor requirements for digital services, such as websites, by allowing dealers to choose their own vendors with the approval of the manufacturer. CA Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Last year, California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) creating new rights for consumers and requirements on busi- nesses of all sizes. Any California busi- ness that collects consumers’ personal information and has an annual gross revenue over $25 million must comply with the CCPA requirements. Although a $25 million annual gross revenue threshold appears a high bar at first glance, creating a thought that the CCPA only applies to large businesses, in reality almost all new car dealers meet this threshold since it would take selling less than 700 new and used cars a year at the average annual transaction price of $37,000 each. The CCPA grants consumers vari- ous rights to learn more about how their personal information is used and shared by businesses with whom they have interacted. While there are some limitations on consumers rights if the personal information is needed under federal, state, or local law or any other specified exemption, the duties imposed by businesses to track and potentially scrub personal information are extensive. AB 1146 (Berman) CCPA Warranty and Recall Fix While the CCPA gives broad author- ity to a consumer, these rights can create unintended consequences that the legislature likely did not contemplate. One such example is the consumer’s right to have their personal information deleted dur- ing or following a new vehicle sale transaction or a vehicle repair under warranty or recall. Any consumer who exercises their right to have their information deleted could unintention- ally miss getting important safety and recall notices from the vehicle’s manu- facturer or fail to repair their vehicle under warranty or recall. This failure to give notice or to complete a repair could jeopardize public safety on California’s roads. Additionally, since the CCPA requires businesses to treat consumers equally — whether they agree to share information or not — it is possible the law could be read to prohibit new car dealers from even warning consumers about the con- sequences of having their informa- tion deleted. AB 1146 would create a narrow CCPA exemption allowing vehicle ownership information to be shared between a new car dealer and the vehicle’s manufacturer in the anticipation of or during a vehicle warranty or recall repair. CNCDA is sponsoring AB 1146 to ensure that consumers will receive important and timely vehicle safety information and can have their vehicles repaired. AB 1146 would simply continue the existing practice of sharing vehicle ownership information new car dealers and vehicle manufacturers for recall and warranty purposes. SB 561 (Jackson) Expansion of CCPA Legal Remedies The CCPA is enforced by the Attorney General and consumer litigation, known as a private right of action, in connection with an un- authorized access of a consumer’s nonencrypted or nonredacted per- sonal information. This private right of action is limited to data breaches and only if, prior to initiating any action for statutory damages, a consumer provides a business 30 days’ written notice and an opportunity to cure the violation. A business that violates these provisions is liable for a civil penalty, no more than $2,500 per violation or $7,500 per each inten- tional violation. SB 561 intends to expand the existing CCPA legal rem- edies by creating a new private right of action for any business’ violation of any rights set forth in the CCPA. Additionally, this bill seeks to remove a business’ ability for an opportunity to cure the violation. CNCDA believes that any expansion of legal remedies under the CCPA should be evaluated after the law has been enacted, regulations have been adopted by the Attorney General and businesses are given an opportunity to comply. Furthermore, a condi- tion agreed to both proponents and opponents of the CCPA passing the legislature was that these legal rem- edies would not be expanded. CNCDA opposes SB 561 because expanding legal claims under this new law is unwarranted, and businesses should have the opportunity to cure any CCPA violation first before be- ing sued. SB 561 will result in more litigation and will not help protect any consumer from further breaches of their consumer privacy. 3