CCPA Status Report 2: CCPA Implementation Timeline Creates Severe Compliance Pressures

Once the California legislature adjourns on September 13, 2019, the last day for Governor Newsom to sign or veto bills passed by the legislature this session is October 13, 2019. 

Under the CCPA, the California Attorney General is authorized to issue regulations implementing the law. Publications disseminated by the office of the California AG indicate that the AG is expected to issue draft rules in the fall of 2019. Once proposed rules are published, there will be a 45-day public comment period on the content of such regulations. After that initial public comment period, if any updates to the regulations are made and constitute “substantial and sufficiently related changes,” i.e., changes that are reasonably foreseeable based on the notice of proposed action, the California AG must then provide for a new public comment period of only 15 days. If any updates to the regulations are made and constitute “substantial, but not sufficiently related changes,” i.e., “major” changes that are not reasonably foreseeable based on the notice of proposed action, the California AG must issue a new notice in the California Regulatory Notice Register and provide for a new public comment period of at least 45 days.

Should the California AG elect to wait to issue his proposed regulations until the legislative process concludes so the proposed rules account for amendments to the CCPA, the earliest the proposed rules would be published is October 13, 2019. In this scenario, the initial comment period would conclude around November 27, 2019. Accounting for time to permit the California AG’s staff to review comments, and depending on a potentially required secondary comment period, the final rule may not be published for an additional 15-45 (or more) days from November 27, 2019.

Additional information about the California regulatory process can be found at this OAL link.

What is clear is that advertisers and marketers attempting to comply with the CCPA will be shooting at a potentially fast-moving target. It is quite likely that a more definitive picture of the final law will be only available near the January 1, 2020 effective date of the law facing the ad community with major compliance challenges.

Stay tuned for updates as this process moves forward.