The "state" of privacy compliance returned to the states this past year. The fourth time was the charm as California adopted a comprehensive consumer financial privacy law. But what the State of California bound together, the Actions of Congress have rent asunder. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 ("FACT Act") was signed into law on December 4, 2003. The FACT Act amends the FCRA to promote uniform national standards for the consumer financial services industry by making permanent the FCRA's preemption of state law. The greater protections for Californians in their control of sharing NPI by financial institutions with nonaffiliated third parties under the California Privacy Law may well endure, however, leaving a compliance minefield for financial institutions to navigate. The California Privacy Law also effectively repealed the existing privacy ordinances in several California cities and counties. Although municipalities outside of the San Francisco Bay area did not adopt similar ordinances this past year, further action in other states and at the federal level appears likely in 2004. Privacy remains an irresistible target for some state and federal policy makers, so the minefield will likely continue to remain fluid even as the dust continues to settle on financial institutions' GLB Act and state law compliance programs.
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