State Legislation to Watch: California’s SB 362 — the DELETE Act

California lawmakers are looking to advance new legislation that, if enacted, would impose new limitations on data brokers that collect and sell personal information about consumers from the internet, public records, and other sources. Starting in August 2026, SB 362, or the DELETE Act, would direct the California Privacy Protection Agency to create a universal deletion mechanism for data brokers that allows any California consumer to make a deletion request of every data broker with a single, verifiable request. California consumers who use the bill’s data deletion mechanism would effectively delete data from hundreds of companies that provide very different products and services to the marketplace, either on their own or through an authorized agent. A data broker would also be required to delete all personal information of the consumer at least once every 31 days unless the consumer requests otherwise.

Worth noting, California’s privacy law, the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) already provides a deletion right to consumers, and it requires those businesses to flow deletion requests down to service providers, contractors, and third parties. SB 362 in its current form also does not exempt from deletion many of the protected data types found in existing state privacy laws including data subject to GLBA, HIPAA, fraud prevention and identity verification services, and data from non-profits, etc. Consequently, this could cause significant confusion for companies that are subject to both the CCPA and the bill’s terms.

SB 362, if enacted, would have a broad impact on advertisers and marketers in California and across the country, especially if replicated in other states. Responsible data use is a fundamental pillar of advertising business operations, and it’s critical to preserve access to this important resource for agencies, America’s businesses, and the overall economy. A November 2022 study from NERA Economic Consulting found that limiting online advertising’s access to data about audience interests and demographics substantially reduces revenue to online content providers by 50 to 70 percent. Such limits will disproportionately affect small publishers and advertisers and have the unintended effect of strengthening the competitive advantage of large platforms. Revenue losses will threaten the foundation of free online services that are worth $30,000 per year to the typical consumer, the review found.

SB 362 passed the Senate in May 2023 and is currently being held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee for a routine cost analysis. Over the next few weeks, a final decision will be made by Assembly leadership to advance the bill to the Assembly floor for a vote. Earlier this week, the 4As and other stakeholders in the advertising industry submitted a letter to the bill’s sponsor and Assembly Appropriations Committee leadership in opposition to the bill. Industry advocates are aggressively seeking opportunities to engage California lawmakers to urge them to decline to advance the bill. Learn more about the industry’s advocacy work on California SB 362 here.

Have questions about the California SB 362 — the DELETE Act? Please contact Amanda Anderson, VP, of Government Relations.