Privacy Legislation Enacted in 2007

Unless otherwise noted, all laws go into effect January 1, 2008

AB 569 (Portantino) - Wiretaps
This law extends the expiration date of laws that regulate the interception of specific types of electronic communications from January 1, 2008 to January 1, 2012. Penal Code § 629.98

AB 1178 (Hernandez) - Disclosure of Psychotherapy Records
This law exempts from certain restrictions of the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act any precautionary disclosure made by a psychotherapist who has reasonable cause to believe (1) that a patient is a danger to him/herself or to the person or property of another, and (2) that the disclosure is necessary to prevent harm to the patient or the person or property of another. Civil Code § 56.10

AB 1298 (Jones) - Medical Information Confidentiality, Security Freeze, Security
Breach Notification

This amends several existing privacy laws. 1) It applies prohibitions of the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act to any business organized for the purpose of maintaining medical information for treatment or diagnosis. 2) It permits a consumer reporting agency, regardless of the existence of a security freeze, to disclose public record information lawfully obtained from an open public record to the extent otherwise permitted by law. It specifies that these provisions do not prohibit the consumer reporting agency from electing to apply a valid security freeze to the entire contents of a credit report. 3) It adds medical information and health insurance information to the personal information that, if acquired by an unauthorized person ,would require notification of the security breach. Civil Code §§ 56.06, 1785.11.2, 1798.29, and 1798.82

SB 362 (Simitian) - Subcutaneous Implantation of Identification Devices
This prohibits a person from requiring, coercing, or compelling any other individual to undergo the subcutaneous implanting of an identification device, as defined. It authorizes civil penalties up to $10,000 against a violator, plus potential civil action liability for reasonable attorney's fees and court costs. Additionally a victim may recover damages or other appropriate relief. Civil Code § 52.7

AB 607 (Brownley) - Locking Mail Boxes in Residential Hotels
This law requires all residential hotels, after July 1, 2008, to provide each residential unit with a locking mail receptacle, acceptable for mail delivery by the United States Post Office and makes a failure to comply with this requirement a basis for considering a residential unit untenantable. It also authorizes, under certain circumstances, cities and counties to make and enforce ordinances that provide greater protections and increased penalties. Civil Code § 1941.1 and Health & Safety Code § 17958.3

AB 1168 (Jones) - Social Security Numbers (SSNs) in Local Government Records and Higher Education
The law requires certain state and local agencies to truncate SSNs in public records so that no more than the last four digits are displayed. 1) The Franchise Tax Board must truncate SSNs in any document that it releases to the public. 2) The Secretary of State must create versions of Uniform Commercial Code filings that contain only truncated SSNs. 3) County recorders must create versions of recorded documents back to 1980 that contain only truncated SSNs , and if authorized by county boards of supervisors, may levy a recorder fee to cover the cost of truncation. It prohibits anyone from recording documents that contain more than the last four digits of an SSN. 4) The law states the Legislature's intent that local agencies, other than county recorders, fully redact SSNs from public records before making the records available, and excludes SSNs from the information that a local agency must disclose under the Public Records Act. 5) The law requires the Office of Privacy Protection to create a task force to review the use of SSNs by California colleges and universities and to recommend practices to minimize such use, with the task force's report due to the Legislature and the Office of Privacy Protection by July 1, 2010. Civil Code §§ 1798.88 and 1798.89, Commercial Code § 9526.5, Education Code § 66018.55, and Government Code §§ 27300 et seq.

SB 449 (Aanestad) - Privacy of Sex Offense Victims
This law expands the category of crime victims whose names and addresses are not subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act, to include sex offense crime victims. Government Code 7927.5 and Penal Code 293

SB 644 (Correa) - Social Security Numbers in Judgment Abstracts
This law deletes the requirement that abstracts of judgment or decrees requiring the payment of money contain the full SSN of the judgment debtor or assessee and instead requires the last four digits of the SSN. Code of Civil Procedure § 674 and Revenue & Taxation Code § 2191.3

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