On March 29, 2023, the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved the regulations implementing the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The regulations were approved by the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) during its February 3^rd meeting (see our report here) and filed with the OAL on February 14, 2023. The regulations are effective as of March 29, 2023. As soon as they are processed through the OAL, the CPPA will post the officially final regulations here.

The March 29^th regulations are the first substantive regulations produced by the CPPA but are not complete. On February 10, 2023, the CPPA invited comments from the public on Cybersecurity Audits, Risk Assessments, and Automated Decision making as required by CCPA (Cal Civ Code § 1798.185(a)(15)-(16)). Comments were due on March 27. (See Privacy World’s discussion of these topics here, here and here.)

Meanwhile, on March 30^th, the California Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court against the CPPA and the California Attorney General. The CalChamber wants complete and final regulations and prohibitions on any civil or administrative CCPA enforcement until 12 months after regulations are adopted. The CalChamber asserts that California voters provided a one-year period for businesses to comply with CCPA, noting that the regulations approved on March 29^th are an “incomplete set of regulations”. The CalChamber wants the court to order the CCPA to “adopt final regulations and abide by the timelines for enforcement that were approved by the voters.” No doubt businesses covered by CCPA would welcome the clarity of final regulations and assurance that CCPA enforcement will be delayed. Stay tuned for more on the next round of rule-making.

With much less hoopla, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed Iowa’s comprehensive privacy law on March 28, 2023, noting that Iowa is the sixth US state to enact a general privacy law. Click here for our prior coverage on what we dubbed the Iowa Privacy Law, which goes into effect on January 1, 2025.

A busy end to March, indeed.