SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The countdown continues toward a Sept. 30 deadline for a data security bill to be signed or vetoed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Melissa Ameluxen, state legislative and regulatory lobbyist for the California CU League, said the league has been engaged in an "aggressive" media and grassroots campaign in hopes of encouraging the governor's approval. "To date [Sept. 17], we have had 1,500 letters of support sent to the [governor's] office as well as asking for phone calls from our members," she said.
The media portion of the campaign includes print ads placed in the Sacramento Bee and the Los Angeles Times this month. The ads prominently feature a quote from Gov. Schwarzenegger stating, "Protecting the personal information of every Californian is very important to me and I am committed to strong laws that safeguard every individual's privacy and prevent identity theft."
The ad goes on to note California is the second-worst state in the country for identity theft and gives Gov. Schwarzenegger's office phone number. "Tell him to sign the privacy protection package: AB 1656 and SB 364," it urges, referring to the bill numbers from the California Assembly and Senate, respectively.
The ad also states: "California credit unions are leading the fight to protect the personal information of their members, and all Californians."
The CCUL worked with Assemblymember Dave Jones both last year and this year to draft legislation to improve data security. The 2007 version easily passed both state legislative houses but was vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger.
For a national look at legislative efforts to ramp up data security, see page 4.(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com/ http://www.sourcemedia.com/
