Privacy: biometric surveillance systems.

Existing law, the Information Practices Act of 1977, declares that the right to privacy is a personal and fundamental right protected by the California Constitution and by the United States Constitution and that all individuals have a right of privacy in information pertaining to them. The act requires an agency, defined as every state office, officer, department, division, bureau, board, commission, or other state agency, except as provided, to maintain in its records only personal information that is relevant and necessary for a required or authorized purpose. This bill would, until January 1, 2025, require a government entity, defined as a department or agency of the state or its political subdivision, or any person acting for or on behalf of, or at the request of, the state or its political subdivision, to submit to the Legislature a written report that includes specified information, including whether, in the past 3 years, the government entity has developed, acquired, possessed, accessed, used, or shared any facial recognition or other biometric surveillance system or commercial biometric database. The bill would also prohibit a government entity from sharing images, recordings, or biometric information with any other person or entity for use in a facial recognition or other biometric surveillance system or commercial biometric database. Existing law, until January 1, 2023, prohibits a law enforcement agency or law enforcement officer from installing, activating, or using any biometric surveillance system in connection with an officer camera or data collected by an officer camera. Under existing law, a person is authorized to bring an action for equitable or declaratory relief against a law enforcement agency or officer who violates that prohibition. This bill would, until January 1, 2026, prohibit a law enforcement agency or law enforcement officer from developing, acquiring, possessing, accessing, using, or sharing any facial recognition or other biometric surveillance system. The bill would also prohibit a law enforcement agency or law enforcement officer from acquiring, accessing, or using any facial recognition or other biometric surveillance system that is developed from or makes use of biometric information that was collected without the express consent of each individual whose biometric information is contained therein to use their biometric information for biometric surveillance. This bill would authorize an individual, upon a violation of the prohibitions described above, to bring a lawsuit in a court of competent jurisdiction and to obtain specified remedies, including recovery of damages in an amount not less than $100 and not more than $750 per individual per violation or actual damages, whichever is greater. This bill would require the California Research Bureau to conduct a study examining the civil liberties and civil rights impacts of facial recognition and other biometric surveillance systems on Californians, as specified, and to submit the study to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2023. This bill would define terms for its purposes.