United States of America: Introduced People's Privacy Act in Washington House of Representatives (HB 1616)

On 26 January 2023, the People’s Privacy Act (HB 1616), was introduced by representatives Shelly Kloba, Mary Fosse, Gary Pollet, and Carolyn Eslick in the Washington State House of Representatives to create a charter of people’s personal data rights in Washington state. The provisions apply to business entities in the state of Washington which, annually, have a revenue of at least USD 10 million through at least 300 separate transaction, or process personal information of at least 1'000 unique individuals. If passed, it would grant data subjects in Washington state with the rights to know, access, refuse consent, delete, and correct personal information about them. Covered entities would be subject to a number of data processing obligations, such as having a clear and easily comprehensible long-form and short-form privacy policy displayed prominently and readily accessible to data subjects. The Act would also set out the conditions under which personal information can be transferred to third-parties. Further, covered entities would need to conduct and document a data protection assessment of certain processing activities, including capturing personal information for targeted advertising and the sale of personal information.