On June 4, 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the launching of a data privacy and security initiative for the purpose of protecting the privacy rights of Texans and safeguarding their sensitive data.
The press release indicates that the new data privacy and security team, housed within the Consumer Protection Division of the OAG, will focus on “aggressive enforcement” of both Texas and federal privacy laws, including:
- the recently enacted Texas Data Privacy and Security Act;
- the Identify Theft Enforcement and Protection Act;
- the Data Broker Law;
- the Biometric Identifier Act;
- the Deceptive Trade Practices Act;
- the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA); and
- the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
Attorney General Paxton warned tech, AI, and other companies engaged in collecting, aggregating, and using sensitive data that “any entity abusing or exploiting Texans’ sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law,” emphasizing that the OAG is “doubling down to protect privacy rights.” AG Paxton predicts that the Texas data privacy and security team will “become among the largest in the country focused on enforcing privacy laws.”
You can read the press release here. The Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA), Tex. Bus. & Com. Code, Ch. 541, is a comprehensive data privacy consumer protection law enacted a year ago that goes into effect on July 1, 2024. Businesses will have a grace period until January 1, 2025, to comply with the global opt-out technology provision. You can read the text of the TDPSA here: BUSINESS AND COMMERCE CODE CHAPTER 541. CONSUMER DATA PROTECTION (texas.gov)
