BILL NUMBER: SB 909

INTRODUCED BILL TEXT
 
 
INTRODUCED BY   Senator Wright
 
                        JANUARY 27, 2010
 
   An act to amend Sections 1786.16 and 1786.20 of the Civil Code,
relating to personal information.
  
        LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
 
   SB 909, as introduced, Wright. Investigative consumer reporting agencies: disclosures.

 

   Existing law requires a person who procures or causes to be prepared an investigative consumer report for employment purposes other than suspicion of wrongdoing to meet specified conditions, including, but not limited to, the name and address of the agency conducting the investigation, the nature and scope of the investigation, and information on consumer inspection.    This bill would additionally require a person who procures or causes to be prepared an investigative consumer report for employment purposes to provide a consumer with a Disclosure and Request for Consent for the Information to be Sent Outside of the United States or its Territories, as specified, if that person knows or should know that any part of an investigative consumer report will be prepared or processed outside the United States.

   Existing law requires investigative consumer reporting agencies to establish reasonable procedures to ensure that specified, prohibited items of information concerning consumers are not part of the reports they furnish. Existing law generally provides that an investigative consumer reporting agency or user of information that fails to comply with any requirement under these provisions with respect to an investigative consumer report is liable to the consumer who is the subject of the report for the sum of the greater of actual damages or $10,000, the costs of the action, reasonable attorney's fees, and, in certain cases, punitive damages, as specified.

   This bill would additionally require an investigative consumer reporting agency that prepares or processes in any manner an investigative consumer report, or portion thereof, outside of the United States or its territories to make specified disclosures to the potential user of this information, including, but not limited to, the country or countries where the report, or portion thereof, will be prepared or processed. The bill would also prohibit an investigative consumer reporting agency from transmitting a consumer's social security number, except for the last 4 digits, outside of the United States or its territories. The bill would require these agencies to adopt and publish a privacy policy relating to information contained in reports that are prepared or processed outside of the United States, as specified. The bill would provide that an investigative consumer reporting agency is liable to a consumer who is harmed by any act or omission that occurs outside the United States or its territories, as specified.

 

   This bill exempts from these requirements information that pertains or relates to matters that occurred outside of the United States or its territories.