March 8 2022 update: Oh no!  With only a few days left in the 2022 legislative session, tech lobbyists are once again trying to sneak the Bad Washington Privacy Act through!   Please contact your legislators ASAP!  Here's an action with a script

April 24 Update: With less than a week to go in the session, tech lobbyists are still trying to get the Bad Washington Privacy Act through. If you've contacted your legislators before, please contact them again.   If you haven't contacted your legislators yet ... please do!

The Bad Washington Privacy Act (SB 5062) is a weak, industry-backed bill that only provides the illusion of privacy – but Rep. Kloba's introduced several amendments to fix SB 5062. 

So please, ask your reps to support the Kloba amendments, and to no on SB 5062 unless the Kloba amendment passes.

Here's a script.  If you're new to Take Action Network, see the instructions below.

The current version of SB 5062 (the Bad Washington Privacy Act) is a weak, industry-backed bill that only provides the illusion of privacy and leaves me, my family, and all your other constituents at risk. Rep. Kloba's striking amendment addresses the four major areas civil rights, immigrant rights, and civil liberties groups have highlighted --  it's fully opt-in, has a strong private right of action, removes the pre-emption clause, and gets rid of the some of the biggest loopholes.   There's still room for improvement, but this amendment offers meaningful privacy for Washingtonians.

Rep. Kloba also has several other amendments making individual fixes: strengthening the private right of action, removing pre-emption, and regulating surreptitious surveillance.  While they are not as broad as the striking amendment, they are all important fixes.

So please support all of Rep. Kloba's amendments.  If the amendments don't pass, please vote no on SB 5062.  Fix it — or nix it.

[NAME], [CITY]

More about the Bad Washington Privacy Act and the Kloba amendments

Here are some of the big problems with the Bad Washington Privacy Act that immigrant rights, civil rights, civil liberties, and consumer groups have focused on:

• It lets predatory corporations use, share, and sell your data without your consent — it's mostly opt-out, not opt-in. 
• If companies violates the law and abuse your privacy, you can only sue them "injunctive relief" – they have to stop doing it, but not pay you for any damages.
• its pre-emption clause keeps cities and counties from passing stronger laws!
• It's filled with loopholes

Rep. Shelley Kloba's "striking amendment", completely replacing the current text of the bill, fixes these problems.  It's opt-in.  It's got a strong private right of action, so if you sue companies breaking the law and win, they have to pay damages and penalties.  It removes the pre-emption clause and closes some of the biggest loopholes.  It's not perfect, but it's real privacy protection for Washingtonians.   The civil rights and community groups in the Tech Equity Coalition support it. So does the ACLU of Washington – and more than 20 Indivisible groups.

Rep. Kloba has also introduced several other amendments with specific fixes.  They're not as broad as the striking amendment but they're all important improvements. 

For more on why the Bad Washington Privacy Act is so bad – and why it matters so much – check out Inside One State's Fierce Battle Over Online Privacy and Former Republican state legislator Norma Smith op-ed , written with two progressive Indivisible activists.

How to contact your legislator using Take Action Network (TAN)

If have an account on Take Action Network, you should see your legislators' picture above.  Directly above them is a green "Compose email to all of them" button.  Click on that, and you'll get a draft email to both of your representatives.  Edit it to make sure your name and city are correct, and whatever other edits you want.  Then click send!  When you get a chance, come back to this page and click on "I took this action" so we know how many people are taking action.

If you don't have account on TAN, you can choose your district above and you'll see your legislators' pictures and the "Compose email to all of them" button. If you're not sure of your district, you can put in your address and TAN will look it up – or look it up yourself on  the legislature's District Finder.

If you prefer to call, the legislative hotline at 1–800–562–6000 (TTY for Hearing Impaired 800.833.6388) lets you get a message to all your legislators at once.  Tell them the bill you're calling about (SB 5062), your position (OPPOSE, because you oppose the current version of the bill). They'll ask your address, and then a comment.  You can keep it simple if you want - "Support Rep. Kloba's amendments, and vote no on the bill if they don't pass" - or go into more detail.

You can also call your legislators offices' directly.  Here's the legislature's directory page.  If you've created an account or provided your district, their numbers are below their photos – and if you're on a phone, you can touch the numbers to dial.

Or, you can comment on the bill on the state legislature's site, and send it to all of your legislators.  Fill in your address, click Verify District, choose your position (OPPOSE), and fill out the form.  You can cut-and-paste the script here as a starting point for your comments, or write them from scratch if you prefer.

#privacy