Florida’s New Consumer Data Privacy Bill Signals for More States to Follow
Officially referred to as House Bill 969, the bill which is more commonly known as Florida’s consumer data privacy bill marks an important shift in overall consumer data collection governance in the US. Previously we have been talking about the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the upcoming California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA).
Florida’s addition to this line-up strengthens the conversation behind taking ownership of data control on an enterprise level to ensure protection of the data all the way down to the end consumer. In context of this bill, consumer data privacy involves enacting safeguards to ensure that businesses that engage in collection of consumer’s personal data are disclosing information relating to their data collection and data selling activities.
According to the bill’s text, personal identifiable information (PII) encompasses but isn’t limited to:
- An individuals first and last name, when attached to any of the subsequent: Social security number (SSN), Drivers license, passport, or other government ID
- Financial account numbers, credit or debit card numbers, and the pins / passwords associated with the accounts
- Medical information and all ESI falling under HIPAA guidance
- Insurance policies, and policies numbers associated with an individual
- An individuals email address, security questions, and passwords for the account
- Biometric information: fingerprints, face ID, retina scans, and more
The overarching goal being to limit the types and amount of personal data companies are collecting, and further limit entities are using and storing the data post collection. If the bill submitted gets approved, it will go into effect January 1st, 2022.
McFarland. “The Florida Senate.” House Bill 969 (2021) – The Florida Senate, State of Florida, 2021, www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/969.
Full Bill: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/969/BillText/Filed/PDF
Blickensderfer, Steven, et al. “Florida’s New Privacy Bill Promises Big Changes.” JD Supra, Carlton Fields, 22 Feb. 2021, www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/florida-s-new-privacy-bill-promises-big-3277830/.