Will Third Time Be the Charm? Washington State Legislators Once Again Tackle the Privacy Act

After failures in the past two legislative sessions, Washington lawmakers are once again seeking to pass a comprehensive state privacy regulation.

The 2021 version of the Washington Privacy Act (WPA), SB 5062, tracks closely the 2020 WPA.  Under the Act, Washington consumers would gain new rights with respect to their personal data including (1) right of access, which includes a right to confirm whether an organization is processing consumer’s personal information as well as the right to access that information; (2) right of correction; (3) right of deletion; (4) right to data portability; and (5) right to opt-out of processing for purposes of targeted advertising, sale of personal data, and profiling.

Responsibilities of controllers would include transparency, purpose specification, and data minimization. Controllers would not be permitted to process sensitive data without consent and would be required to establish data security practices to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of personal data.  Controllers would further be prohibited from processing personal data on the basis of consumers’ protected characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, or gender, and would not be permitted to discriminate against consumers for exercising their personal data rights.

The new proposal adds additional protections for the handling of personal data collected from consumers during public health emergencies. This includes notice and consent requirements for activities such as contact tracing and symptom detection that may be used to help monitor and manage infectious diseases.

The 2021 WPA also introduces a limited private right of action in the case of personal data use and collection for public health emergencies.

On January 14, 2021, the 2021 WPA came before the Senate Environment, Energy & Technology Committee for the first public hearing where the testimony ranged from supportive to critical.   The Committee is next scheduled to hold an executive session on SB 5062 on January 21.

We’ll continue to follow the legislative developments with the 2021 Washington Privacy Act and report them in our blog.

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