The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) grants to a consumer various rights with respect to personal information, as defined, that is collected by a business, as defined, including the right to request that a business delete personal information about the consumer that the business has collected from the consumer. The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, an initiative measure approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA. The CCPA establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency with full administrative power, authority, and jurisdiction to implement and enforce the CCPA. The CCPA law makes a business, service provider, contractor, or other person that violates the CCPA liable for an administrative fine, as provided.

The CCPA creates the Consumer Privacy Fund in the State Treasury and makes moneys in the fund available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law requires 95% of any administrative fine assessed, and of the proceeds of any settlement, to be deposited into the Consumer Privacy Subfund, which is created within the Consumer Privacy Fund. The CCPA law requires the funds to be used exclusively by the agency in carrying out its duties under the CCPA. The CCPA requires the other 5% of any administrative fine, and of the proceeds of any settlement, to be deposited into the Consumer Privacy Grant Subfund, also within the Consumer Privacy Fund, to be used exclusively by the agency to administer and distribute grants to promote and protect consumer privacy, as provided.

This bill would authorize a person to submit to the agency, a whistleblower complaint, as defined, and would make the whistleblower eligible for an award if the agency designates a complaint for administrative enforcement and certain requirements are met. The bill would require an eligible whistleblower to receive at least 15% but not more than 33% of the fines collected through an administrative enforcement action or settlement, calculated after the allocation to Consumer Privacy Grant Subfund described above. The bill would require the agency to consider certain factors in determining the amount of the award. The bill would additionally authorize the agency to assess an administrative penalty against a person who violates the CCPA in an amount to cover the reasonable attorney’s fees of the whistleblower.

This bill would create the Consumer Privacy Whistleblower Subfund within the Consumer Privacy Fund and would require the funds awarded by the agency to a whistleblower or for attorney’s fees to be deposited into the Consumer Privacy Whistleblower Subfund. The bill would make those funds available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for payment to the whistleblower or the whistleblower’s attorney, as appropriate.

This bill would require the whistleblower, in order to be eligible for a whistleblower award, to meet certain requirements, including that the whistleblower be represented by an attorney and declare under penalty of perjury that the information submitted with the whistleblower complaint is true and correct to the best of the whistleblower’s knowledge and belief. The bill would authorize a person to submit a whistleblower complaint anonymously, subject to certain conditions, including that the whistleblower’s attorney certify, under penalty of perjury, that the attorney has taken certain actions, including verifying the whistleblower’s identity. The bill would make a whistleblower’s identify confidential, except as provided, and would exempt disclosure of the whistleblower’s identify from the California Public Records Act.

By requiring the declarations under penalty of perjury described above, the bill would create new crimes and, thus, impose a state-mandated local program.

Under the bill, an employee, contractor, or agent would be entitled to bring a civil action to seek specified relief and damages if the employee, contractor, or agent is subject to specified forms of discrimination in the terms and conditions of their employment because of lawful acts done by the employee, contractor, agent, or associated others in furtherance of a whistleblower complaint or administrative enforcement action under the bill or other efforts to stop one or more violations of the CCPA.

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2020 authorizes the Legislature to amend the act to further the purposes and intent of the act by a majority vote of both houses of the Legislature, as specified.

This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2020.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.