An act to amend Section 1798.99.90 of, to amend the heading of Title 1.81.49 (commencing with Section 1798.99.90) of Part 4 of Division 3 of, and to add Sections 1798.99.91, 1798.99.92, and 1798.99.93 to, the Civil Code, and to amend Section 140 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to privacy.
AB 45 expands California’s privacy protections for health-related locations and data, with a particular focus on family planning centers and in-person health care facilities. It makes it unlawful, subject to exceptions, to collect, use, disclose, sell, share, or retain personal information of a person physically located at or near a family planning center, and it separately prohibits geofencing health care entities for purposes of tracking, targeting, notifying, or advertising to people seeking, receiving, or providing care. The bill also bars the use of personal information obtained through prohibited geofencing and creates civil enforcement mechanisms, including injunctions and penalties.
The bill further adds protections for research records. It prohibits release of personally identifying research records related to people seeking or obtaining health care services when the request is based on another state’s laws that interfere with reproductive rights or on a foreign penal civil action, and it similarly restricts release to law enforcement for those purposes. In addition, AB 45 amends the California Reproductive Justice and Freedom Fund so that civil penalties collected under the geofencing provisions are deposited into the fund and then awarded as grants for medically accurate, comprehensive reproductive and sexual health education, including abortion information and referrals.
AB 45 amends the Civil Code’s privacy title and expands the scope of California’s health-data privacy law by adding new restrictions on geolocation-based data collection and geofencing around health care sites. It also creates a private right of action for violations involving family planning center location data and authorizes Attorney General enforcement with civil penalties of $25,000 per violation for unlawful geofencing. The bill preserves specified exceptions for health care providers, law enforcement in limited circumstances, research conducted under federal human-subjects rules, and certain labor organization activities. It also amends Health and Safety Code Section 140 to direct penalties into the Reproductive Justice and Freedom Fund for grantmaking.
The voting history suggests generally favorable legislative support for the bill, with repeated do-pass votes in committee and strong floor majorities in both houses. The bill advanced through the process and was ultimately chaptered, indicating it had enough support to clear both policy and fiscal review. The available record does not include committee transcript discussion, so the sentiment can be inferred mainly from the vote margins and final enactment rather than from stated remarks.
The main points of contention appear to center on the breadth of the privacy restrictions and the enforcement structure. Potential concerns include the bill’s limits on geofencing and data sharing for health care-related locations, the civil penalty regime, and the use of penalties to fund reproductive justice education programs that explicitly include abortion rights and referrals. The bill also carves out exceptions for law enforcement, research, and labor organizations, which suggests balancing privacy protections against public safety, research, and labor-related uses of location data. The recorded nay votes in committee and on the floor indicate some opposition, likely tied to these privacy, enforcement, and reproductive-health policy choices.