Thanks to all of you who made Privacy Week 2023 a resounding success! We had a tremendous amount of participation to celebrate and recognize privacy in Washington. If you missed any of the webinars or privacy minutes, they are posted on the Privacy Week website and include the Office of the Attorney General's Data Breach Report webinar and the Health Data Privacy webinar.
Congrats to our Privacy Quiz winners from Department of Corrections, the Health Care Authority, and Central Washington University! Way to represent!
Privacy Week Press
In recognition of privacy week, both StateScoop and GovTech published articles about the public sector's focus on privacy. I had the opportunity to interview for both articles. Check out the great work and how the recognition of the importance of privacy is growing for government entities:
- Creating a culture: How state privacy officers hope to rebuild public trust (StateScoop)
- States and Counties Making Fresh Progress on Privacy (GovTech)
Legislative session
This has been a packed session for privacy bills and related legislation. Our office is tracking 38 bills this session, ranging from a major health privacy bill (SHB 1155), to anti-doxing (SHB 1335) and robocalling (SHB 1051). All of these measures are on the House Floor Calendar.
In addition, the Automated Decision System bill (SB 5356) was re-introduced this year and received a hearing. Privacy continues to be an important focus for our policy makers and we are closely tracking any major impacts, especially for government agencies. The People's Privacy Act (HB 1616) is one such bill, but thus far has not received a hearing.
State Agency Privacy Forum
All the bills we're tracking this session were reviewed during the Quarterly State Agency Privacy Forum (SAPF) on Feb. 16. To receive the invite to future meetings please email privacy@watech.wa.gov. The SAPF is for public employees with an interest in privacy, or whose work involves privacy. Attendees often include agency privacy professionals, IT workforce and IT security professionals, as well as contracts, risk, legal, legislative, records, and public records professionals.
Other privacy training opportunities
Our in-person March Privacy Primer Workshop is now full. However, due to overwhelming interest in a virtual option we are looking to host another one in May. If you are a public employee and are seeking to create or mature your privacy programs email privacy@watech.wa.gov to register or get more information about the virtual workshop! You can use the subject line: Virtual Privacy Workshop
Katy Ruckle
State Chief Privacy Officer