Elected officials and judges.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary and digest do not provide specific details on enforcement mechanisms or penalties for non-compliance with the deletion requirements.

Protecting Personal Information of Threatened Elected Officials and Judges

AB-883 requires data brokers to delete personal information about threatened elected officials, judges, and their immediate family members upon request.

What This Bill Does

• Requires data brokers to remove 'protected information' from their databases if an official or judge submits a verified threat identification letter along with a deletion request.
• Defines 'protected information' as including residential addresses and phone numbers of threatened individuals.
• Establishes a model threat identification letter that includes police reports indicating threats of imminent harm.
• Requires the Secretary of State to provide lists of state and local elected officials’ personal information to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA).
• Allows judges and elected officials to remove their names from these lists if they choose.

Who It Names or Affects

• Data brokers who handle personal information.
• Elected officials, judges, and their immediate family members.
• The Secretary of State in providing lists of officials’ personal information.
• The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) in managing deletion requests.

Terms To Know

Protected Information

Personal information such as residential addresses and phone numbers that data brokers must delete upon request.

Threat Identification Letter

A document, including police reports, indicating a threat of imminent harm to an elected official or judge.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if data brokers do not comply with the deletion requests.
• It is unclear how the lists provided by the Secretary of State will be used beyond the requirements stated in the bill.
• There are no details on the penalties for violating this law.

Official Summary Text

AB 883, as amended, Lowenthal.
Data brokers: personal information of threatened elected officials, judges, and their immediate family members.
Elected officials and judges.
Existing law establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) to enforce various laws protecting the privacy of individuals. If a business knowingly collects and sells to third parties the personal information of a consumer with whom the business does not have a direct relationship, existing law requires the business to register with the CPPA as a data broker, except as specified. Existing law requires the CPPA to establish an accessible deletion mechanism that allows a consumer to request that every data broker delete any personal information related to that consumer held by the data broker or associated service provider or
contractor. Existing law requires the accessible deletion mechanism to support the ability of a consumer’s authorized agents to aid in the deletion request. Existing law
requires data brokers to access the accessible deletion mechanism and delete personal information as requested by individuals, and imposes specified deletion procedures. Existing law defines “personal information” for these purposes, and exempts from this definition, among other things, publicly available information or lawfully obtained, truthful information that is a matter of public concern.
contractor, as prescribed.
This bill, on and after January 1, 2028, would require data brokers to delete, and would prohibit data brokers from sharing or selling, “protected information” about an elected official, a judge, or an immediate family member of an elected official or judge if they or their authorized agent submits to the accessible deletion mechanism a verified deletion request and a threat identification letter, as specified. The bill would require the CPPA to develop a model threat
identification letter and to update the accessible deletion mechanism accordingly, as specified. The bill would define “protected information” to include, among other types of information, an individual’s residential address and telephone number. The bill would define “threat identification letter” to include, among other documents, a police report indicating that the individual has received a threat of intent to cause imminent great bodily harm.
This bill would require the Secretary of State to provide to the agency a list of all state or local elected officials that, if available, includes each official’s personal information, as specified, would require the Judicial Council to provide the agency with a list of all California judges, and would require the agency to allow elected officials or a judges to remove their information from those lists, as prescribed. The
bill would require the lists to be kept confidential, as specified. The bill would also require the agency to upload the lists to the accessible deletion mechanism described above and would require an entity receiving a notification that a deletion is required to do so within 5 days.
This bill would authorize an elected official or judge who is on a list described above, the Attorney General, a county counsel, or a city attorney to bring a civil action for a violation of the bill, as prescribed.
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.

Current Bill Text

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