Save a Horse, Ride a House Bill: Texas Introduces Two Privacy Protection Acts

Ya’ll, the Texas House of Representatives are following in the footsteps of California, Colorado and Washington introducing House Bill No. 4518, the Texas Consumer Privacy Act (Texas CPA) and House Bill No. 4380, Texas Privacy Protection Act (TPPA).

The Texas CPA targets larger corporations that had a gross annual revenue exceeding $25 million, derive 50% or more of their annual revenue from selling consumer personal information or companies that buy, sell or receive the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households or devices for commercial purposes. If passed, the Texas CPA would go into effect on September 1, 2020. Civil penalties for violations would be $2,500 per violation or if the violations are intentional $7,500 per violation.

The TPPA focuses more on processing and retaining of personal identifying information. Regulations of the bill include: explicit consent for processing the personal identifying information, the development and security of a data security program and accountability program and requires businesses stop processing personal identifying information when an indivisible closes their account within 39 days of account closure. If passed, the TTPA would go into effect on September 1, 2019. Civil penalties for violations would be $10,000 per violation, not to exceed a total amount of $1 million.