Joint Statement in Opposition to the Governor’s Office/Senate Draft of SB 5376

News Release: 
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
We, the undersigned organizations supporting strong consumer data privacy laws, strongly prefer the House draft of SB 5376, and oppose the Governor’s office/Senate draft as failing to provide a meaningful step forward on consumer privacy.  The Governor’s office draft is similar to the Senate-passed version of the bill, which was opposed by six national data-privacy watchdogs as being a step backwards on data privacy (see links to letters below).  In testimony and communications, our organizations have supported stronger consumer data privacy protections that are at least partly included in the House draft, but are not reflected in the Senate version.  Overall, the current Senate draft relies on a flawed structure that vests control over data in the hands of companies, who can override consumer consent and control over their data by relying on a variety of loopholes and exemptions.  The Governor’s office draft—created without consumer advocacy organizations in the discussion—cannot be termed meaningful data privacy.  We oppose it as a step backwards—it fails to give consumers any meaningful control of their data despite being termed a data privacy bill that melds GDPR and CCPA principles.  By contrast, the House version at least begins to enact meaningful privacy protections.
 
 
Signed,
 
AccessNow
American Civil Liberties Union of Washington
Common Sense Media
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
WashPIRG
 
Letters:
 
Letter from 6 privacy watchdogs to House: https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Privacy-Coalition-Letter-Opposing-ITED-v.-4.pdf
Letter from 4 privacy watchdogs to Senate: https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/SB-5376-Privacy-Coalition-Letter-Oppose.pdf