Existing law, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, provides various protections to a consumer with respect to a business that collects the consumer's personal information, including biometric information such as the consumer's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) . The act requires a business that collects a consumer's personal information to, at or before the point of collection, inform the consumer as to the categories of personal information to be collected and the purposes for which the information will be used, and grants to a consumer the right to opt-out of the sale of the consumer's personal information by the business to a third party.
Existing law also prohibits the disclosure by a health care service plan of the results of a test for a genetic characteristic to a third party in a manner that identifies or provides identifying characteristics of the person to whom the tests results apply, except pursuant to a written authorization.
This bill would establish the Genetic Information Privacy Act, which would prohibit a direct-to-consumer genetic or illness testing services company from disclosing a person's genetic information to a third party without obtaining the person's prior written consent, as specified. The bill would impose civil and criminal penalties for a violation of those provisions, as specified.
This bill would also require a direct-to-consumer genetic or illness testing services company to verify genetic data files that are downloaded from its databases before they are transferred or uploaded to another direct-to-consumer genetic or illness testing services company's database and impose upon a direct-to-consumer genetic or illness testing services company that violates this provision, or that knowingly receives or downloads to its databases a genetic testing file that has not been verified, a fine not to exceed $10,000, imprisonment in a county jail for a period not exceeding 6 months, or by both that fine and imprisonment. By creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.