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RIMS Report: The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018

With legislation introduced in California this year to protect consumers’ personal data, a new RIMS professional report, Understanding the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) highlights the importance for risk professionals and their organizations to prepare and adjust business operations to remain compliant under the law.

Authored by RIMS External Affairs Committee member Teri Cotton Santos, the report addresses the rights provided to consumers under the CCPA, the obligations it creates for businesses, as well as practical steps companies should take to prepare for its implementation date.

The CCPA was signed into law in June and became the broadest U.

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S. framework imposing consent and disclosure obligations on businesses that collect personal information on California consumers. Similar to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the law applies to companies collecting personal information on California consumers whether or not the company is based in the state. The clock is ticking for companies to update their operations and processes, as the CCPA becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2020.

“How organizations use and collect personal information continues to be a top concern for regulators and many consumers,” Santos said. “Now is the time for risk professionals to have discussions with internal stakeholders about the implementation of the CCPA and its impact on their organization’s operations and strategy.

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The report is currently available exclusively to RIMS members. To download the report, visit RIMS Risk Knowledge library at www.RIMS.org/RiskKnowledge. For more information about the Society and to learn about other RIMS publications, educational opportunities, conferences and resources, visit www.RIMS.org.

Amid Wildfires, California’s Emergency Warning Systems Take Heat

Overnight, the Mendocino Complex Fire in Northern California expanded far enough to oust the 2017 Thomas Fire as the largest wildfire in the state’s history. Comprising two joined fires, the Mendocino Complex Fire has burned through 443 square miles in the area north of San Francisco. As of Tuesday morning, the fires burned more than 140 structures, including at least 75 homes, and was 30% contained.

But California’s residents and businesses still should be on alert, as the incendiary activity doesn’t end there. An unprecedented 14,000 firefighters are combating between 12 and 16 wildfires in the state, according to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Particular emphasis is in Northern California, where the fires in Mariposa and Shasta counties continue to threaten residents, businesses, and emergency responders. For 26 days, the Ferguson Fire in Mariposa County has burned nearly 90,000 acres and caused two fatalities. The fire is having a huge impact on areas near and around Yosemite National Park, which alerted the public that it had closed all but two entrances and roads.

Redding, a city 150 miles north of Sacramento, is the site of the Carr Fire, which has been ablaze for two weeks. Weather.com reported that the fire has caused seven deaths and the destruction of nearly 1,600 structures, the majority of which are homes.

The city of Redding launched an interactive map that provides residents with images of neighborhoods so they can check the status of their homes. Reports indicate that more than 1,800 structures are still in the path of the fire.

Despite such technological advances, many residents have questioned the effectiveness of the state’s emergency notification system, which they rely on for evacuation notices. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services currently uses an integrated California Public Alert and Warning System (CalPAWS) Plan to warn the public of danger.

Affected residents in several areas have claimed that they did not receive the CalPAWS evacuation order – including the great-grandmother who perished in the Carr fire in July with her two great-grandchildren. On Aug. 4, California Gov. Jerry Brown held a press conference in Shasta County to discuss the damage. But California’s emergency notification systems—and its unreliability in certain areas of the state—were a central focus of the conference.

Gov. Brown said he would consider legislation to improve alert systems, acknowledging local lawmakers’ proposals in an effort to create a statewide system that requires registration from all residents.

“I think we do need the best alert system we can get, and that’s what I would help the Legislature achieve,” Brown said, according to the Sacramento Bee. “There’s a lot of things we can do, and we can always do more … given the rising threats on the changing of the weather, the climate.”

The Bee reported that a bill with adoption plans for a uniform alert system has been drafted:

The bill, Senate Bill 833, would require counties to automatically sign up residents for a uniform cell phone alert system. It would also fund a standardized system equipped to push out alerts on all forms of media—radio, television, electronic highway billboards and landlines. County emergency managers would be required to undergo annual training on the latest alert technology.

Under such a plan, which would utilize the federal Wireless Emergency Alerts system, they’d have to opt out rather than sign up voluntarily.

Furthermore, the governor said he hopes to overhaul the state’s 911 system, which would de-centralize the calls and notifications to ensure more accurate messaging.

Also on Aug. 4, the White House approved California’s request for a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to help with the impacts of the wildfire in Shasta County.

“This is part of a trenda new normalthat we’ve got to deal with. We’re dealing with it humanly, financially and governmentally,” Gov. Brown said during a media briefing at the Carr Fire Incident Command Post in Anderson, California. “These kinds of horrible situations bring people together, regardless of the lesser kind of ideologies and partisan considerations.”

Wildfires Blaze through Western U.S. and Canada

Following a wet spring, at least six western states are now fighting wildfires, which have been intensified by extremely high temperatures, wind gusts and lightning.

In northern California, about 4,000 people evacuated and more than 7,000 were told to prepare to leave as fires burned in the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 60 miles north of Sacramento, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The fire has burned nearly four square miles, injured four firefighters and destroyed at least 10 structures so far, fire spokeswoman Mary Ann Aldrich told The Oregonian. The area burning was southeast of Oroville, where recently spillways in the nation’s tallest dam began crumbling from heavy rains, leading to evacuation of 200,000 residents downstream.

More than 14 fires are burning in Nevada and a state of emergency was declared in Arizona. While a 15-square-mile fire is partially under control in Montana, hot, dry weather and thunderstorms are threatening.

Other states including Oregon, Washington, Idaho and New Mexico are either battling fires or monitoring conditions in order to prevent them.
Western Canada is also seeing its share of wildfires. Evacuations are in effect for up to 10,000 residents in British Columbia, as 17 fires burn.

Kevin Skrepnek, chief information officer for the British Columbia Wildfire Service, told the Vancouver Sun that gusty winds and hot, dry conditions are expected to continue for days.

“Unfortunately, in terms of the weather forecast, we’re not really seeing any reprieve in the immediate future,” he said. Skrepnek noted that 572 fires have started and that 98,842 acres have burned since April 1. About 1,000 firefighters are currently on the front lines.
Residents of Fort McMurray, Canada, who saw major losses after a fire last year burned for months, are still rebuilding. Risk Management Magazine reported in September that the fire became the largest and most expensive natural disaster in Canada’s history, surpassing floods in Alberta in 2013. The Fort McMurray wildfire charred more than 1.43 million acres of land and destroyed at least 10% of the city, including more than 2,400 homes, businesses and other structures.

Commercial and personal damages from the wildfire are estimated at $6 billion, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Thomas Johansmeyer, assistant vice president of property claim services strategy and development at Verisk Insurance Solutions, said the preliminary estimate for insured losses has come in at $3.5 billion (CAN $4.6 billion). Oil sands losses are included in the commercial component of the estimate.

To help people who are currently displaced in British Columbia, residents of Fort McMurray are rallying to collect and deliver much needed supplies. They are filling trailers with item requested, including water, bandages, eye drops, energy drinks, department store and gas station gift cards, sunscreen and toilet paper, and delivering them to British Columbia residents in need.

California and New York Agree to $15 Minimum Wage

Yesterday, the governors of California and New York reached agreements with state lawmakers to become the highest-paid minimum wage states in the country with an increase to $15 an hour. A minimum wage bill passed the California legislature on Thursday, and Gov. Jerry Brown said he will sign the measure on Monday. Late that night across the country, Gov. Andrew Cuomo reached a tentative agreement with New York’s top legislators to do the same with the state’s base wage.

According to the AP, President Barack Obama, who first proposed an increase to the $7.25 federal minimum wage in 2013, applauded the states’ actions and called on the Republican-controlled Congress to “keep up with the rest of the country.”

Currently, California and Massachusetts are tied for the highest state minimum wages at $10 an hour, while New York’s current rate is $9. Only Washington, D.C., at $10.50 per hour, is higher.

From the Department of Labor, here’s a look at how your state measures up:state minimum wage laws

Both California and New York plan to phase in the new rates, which will impact about 2 million employees in each state. In California, the increases would start with a boost from $10 to $10.50 on Jan. 1, and businesses with 25 or fewer employees would have an extra year to comply. Increases of $1 an hour would come every January until 2022, although the governor could delay these increases in the event of significant budgetary or economic downturns.

Cuomo originally proposed a simpler adjustment in New York: three years in New York City and six years in the rest of the state. Negotiations with local lawmakers who expressed concern the sharp increases would “devastate” business owners produced a more gradual approach. The AP reported, “In New York City, the wage would increase to $15 by the end of 2018, although businesses with fewer than 10 employees would get an extra year. In the suburbs of Long Island and Westchester County, the wage would rise to $15 by the end of 2022. The increases are even more drawn out upstate, where the wage would hit $12.50 in 2021, then increase to $15 based on an undetermined schedule.”

These changes come as considerable progress for the “Fight for 15” movement to raise minimum wages across the country. As Will Kramer reported in Risk Management magazine, debates over income inequality in the United States and the “Fight for 15” movement have gathered strength over the past five years. Many credit the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York City’s Zuccotti Park in September 2011 with spurring the increased focus on wealth and economic inequality, particularly the divide between the 99% and the 1%.

The impacts have been gaining further momentum recently. Kramer explained, “As of mid-2015, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles have begun phasing in a $15 minimum wage. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced Congressional legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. What was once considered inconceivable has become more and more commonly accepted as a necessary and even moral imperative for many American businesses.”

Check out more from Kramer’s article on the growing debate over income inequality and its implications for businesses in Risk Management.