2018 was a landmark year in state consumer privacy legislation – the most important in recent memory. The year began with states updating – or in two cases passing their first – data breach notification statutes. But the June passage of California’s omnibus privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), was a first at the state or federal level. Passage of this law raises the prospect of other omnibus privacy laws passing in other states and has driven consensus in the business community on the need to enact some sort of comprehensive federal privacy law.

Elsewhere, first-in-the-nation privacy laws included Ohio establishing a cybersecurity safe harbor, Vermont imposing state registration and data security requirements on data brokers, and California passing the first Internet of Things data security law. This action-packed year portends even more activity as legislators return for the 2019 session.

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