Page 15 - NCISS Your Advocate August 2018

As California Goes, So Goes the Nation … (?)

California has long taken pride in its role as innovator, whether in technology, law, public policy or popular culture. For
better or worse, ideas, trends, fads and fashions once considered outlandish by many Americans have become common
currency, courtesy of the Golden State.

With respect to online and date privacy, California has taken a page from European Union (EU) regulators and passed its
own sweeping legislation akin to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As noted by the NCISS institution
otherwise known as Ed McClain, this legislation will greatly complicate the work of private investigators in California. If
the past is prologue, such legislation soon cometh to a state house near you.

And let us not forget the U.S. Congress. Senior members of Congress are already calling for a national regulatory regime
for the collection, use, management and sale of the reams of data generated as the internet has permeated most
aspects of modern life. Even a cursory review of legislation pending before Congress reveals dozens of related bills.

To date, consensus has been elusive, but the tide can quickly turn. Now that California has effectively breached the
dam, the deluge is sure to follow ‐‐ pressure will only increase on the Congress to do something, regardless of what
party is in power. (Depending on the outcome of the mid‐term elections, that something could come very soon, indeed.
Democrats in both chambers are already drawing up their policy agendas should they take the majority, and this issue is
not only on the menu, it’s considered low hanging fruit.) Should either the House or Senate change hands, key
committee chairmanships will be held by legislators who support California’s approach. And regardless of the mid‐term
election results, as we’ve seen with other legislation such as the GPS Act, privacy issues can create strange bedfellows,
providing common ground for members of Congress who otherwise agree on very little. The public response is visceral,
and Congress has taken note.

For members of the investigative profession, the outcome here isn’t a matter of choice, or to what extent you control
your personal information, it’s fundamental to how and if you are able to conduct business. It is imperative that private
investigators engage early (and often), while opportunities to shape the outcome still exist.

‐‐ contributed by Keith Nelson, Lobbyit / NCISS Lobbyist

For more on AB 375:
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB375
For more on the initiative:
https://www.oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/17‐0039%20%28Consumer%20Privacy%20V2%29.pdf