Governor Gray Davis
September 10, 2001
State Of California
Sacramento, Calif.

(Hand Delivered)

URGE SUPPORT OF STRONGEST POSSIBLE VERSION OF SB 773 (SPEIER)

Dear Governor Davis:

We are writing to urge you to support SB 773, Sen. Jackie Speier's legislation to strengthen financial privacy protection for Californians. The undersigned are members of the Privacy Coalition, the nation's leading consumer and privacy advocates.

Sen. Speier's bill represents a major advance for consumers because it requires their consent (opt-in) before their financial data is shared with third parties. Moreover, it requires notice and an opt-out opportunity if a financial institution wants to share customer data among its affiliates. These protections go beyond the Federal Gramm-Leach-Blilely law, which has been criticized widely for its weak and incomplete standards.

We were extremely disappointed that your "compromise" bill sought to re-open the loophole for joint marketing agreements and to weaken the legislation's enforcement mechanisms. We urge you to abandon this approach and support Sen. Speier's more consumer-friendly bill.

We think it is incumbent upon you to support Sen. Speier in light of the fact that she specifically agreed to change her bill after your June comments to the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board. Supporting her bill will mean that Californians will enjoy the strongest protections for financial privacy of any Americans. In addition, it will likely result in improved protections for other Americans because of the law's derivative effect.

The nation's privacy community, indeed the international community, is looking to California and to you as Governor to lead the way in providing real protection. This is a rare opportunity to demonstrate unequivocally a commitment to consumer privacy.

Signed,

Mary Alice Baish, American Association of Law Libraries
Jeff Chester, Center for Digital Democracy
Coralee Whitcomb, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
Jean Ann Fox, Consumer Federation of America
Chris Hoofnagle, Electronic Privacy Information Center
Edmund Mierzwinski, National Association of State PIRGs (U.S. PIRG)
Susan Grant, National Consumers League
Evan Hendricks, Privacy Times