The Office of Privacy and Data Protection has published its annual results from the Privacy Assessment Survey of state agencies. The key takeaway: Privacy programs at state agencies are trending in the right direction with more agencies reporting having someone designated to work on privacy issues. We also have heard of agencies recently creating privacy officer positions. Keep up the good work!
Data Privacy Week 2022:
Data Privacy Week was a great success last month! Thanks to all of you who were able to join us and help spread awareness about the importance of privacy. The Kahoot! quiz was a lot of fun with many strong players, but the first-place honors went to StellarJaguar from DSHS with an honorable mention for PrairieMouse from the state Office of Cyber Security! If you missed the webinar on legislative trends at the state and federal level for privacy it is posted on our website.
Legislative Session:
The legislative session is in its last two weeks. During this session, we have tracked 43 bills, with 14 still moving. There are late-breaking developments with the consumer privacy bills in both chambers (specifically we are watching HB 1850 and SB 5062). As drafted, these bills address consumer privacy and create a new privacy commission in Washington. Other bills still moving include new public record act exemptions for health information of incarcerated individuals (HB 1956) and HB 1984 which protects the privacy of addresses related to vehicle registration certificates. And although SB 5116 did not make it out of its fiscal committee, there is a proviso that seeks to continue the state's important work on automated decision-making systems.
Upcoming events:
Washington State Agency Privacy Principles Webinar: We have had several requests for the Washington State Agency Privacy Principles presentation, so we are going to formally introduce and go over the seven principles and how they can help agencies address privacy and mitigate privacy risks.
- Date: Thursday, March 24
- Time: 10 a.m.
- Place: (Virtual) For the invite please email privacy@ocio.wa.gov.
News items that caught OPDP's attention this month include:
- New Poll Underscores Growing Support for National Data Privacy Legislation (The National Law Review)
- At Least 22 States Have Consumer Privacy Legislation Pending (The National Law Review)
See you next month with more updates from our office!
Katy Ruckle
State Chief Privacy Officer