Sacramento, California — California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed AB 1542, a bill which would have amended the California Consumer Privacy Act to prohibit companies from selling sensitive personal data.
“We are disappointed in the Governor’s decision to allow businesses to continue to sell consumers’ sensitive personal information,” said Matt Schwartz, senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports. “This practice leads to serious consumer harms, including stalking, identity theft, and predatory targeting and should be stopped, as has been done in several other states at this point. Vetoing this bill is a gift to data brokers, scammers, and spammy marketers.
“At the same time, we thank the California legislature, which has been a true champion of data rights, pioneering historic legislation like the California Consumer Privacy Act and the Delete Act. We look forward to working with California policymakers to strengthen privacy standards in the state in the next legislative session.”
This year, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and Virginia all passed laws banning or heavily restricting the sale of certain sensitive information. Maryland and Oregon previously passed similar laws. Several other states also considered similar bans during the 2026 legislative session.
Earlier this year, Consumer Reports released model legislation, the State Location Privacy Act, that would ban the sale of consumers’ precise geolocation information.
Contact: Cyrus Rassool, cyrus.rassool@consumer.org