Julian D. Perlman of BakerHostetler writes:
California has moved one step closer towards amending its Constitution to create a presumption of harm whenever personal data is shared without a consumer’s express opt-in, a change that would clear a significant hurdle to many privacy breach lawsuits.
On Thursday, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen approved steps necessary to bring the Personal Privacy Protection Act to California voters. The effort to bring this initiative to the ballot, led by former state Sen. Steve Peace (also co-writer and co-producer of 1978’s cult classic “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”) and retired litigator Michael Thorsnes, will require 807,615 signatures from registered voters by February 24, 2014. (The complete Ballot Initiative Request is available here) If its proponents succeed, voters will face the issue in November 2014, with any approved change to the law taking effect in January 2016.
Read more on Mondaq.
Update: the link to the initiative does not appear to work. You can find the initiative here (pdf).