California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018: sensitive personal information.

Senator Wahab's proposal to amend California's consumer privacy framework eliminates the current exemption for publicly available sensitive personal information under the California Consumer Privacy Act. The amendment removes provisions that previously excluded publicly available sensitive data from privacy protections, requiring businesses to treat all sensitive personal information consistently regardless of its public accessibility.

The change means businesses must extend privacy safeguards to sensitive personal information even when it is lawfully available through government records, widely distributed media, or consumer disclosures to unrestricted audiences. This affects how companies handle data such as biometric information, precise geolocation, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, genetic data, and other categories of sensitive personal information defined in the law.

The amendment maintains the California Privacy Protection Agency's existing enforcement authority while expanding the scope of protected information. Businesses will need to update their data handling practices and privacy policies to ensure uniform treatment of sensitive personal information, regardless of whether that information may also be publicly available through other channels.