The Senate Judiciary committee wants more time to consider the Attorney General’s bill that requires companies notify the state in case of a data breach where personal information is obtained.
Attorney General Marty Jackley says South Dakota is the last state in the union to put into statute this requirement.
He says the bill is necessary because state residents haven’t been impacted by large scale data breaches. until now.
“Obviously, when we look at what happened with Equifax and Target, there have been hundreds of thousands of South Dakotans who have lost their personal information, their financial security," Jackley says. "So, what this bill does is put forth the simple process that when there’s a known breach that they have to let the consumers know and the Attorney General know, if it’s a large amount.”
Last year, the consumer credit reporting company Equifax was hacked, and some 143 million consumers’ financial and personal information was released. Jackley says 275,000 of those were South Dakotans.
The bill requires companies to notify the state within 60 days of a breach.
Legislators want more time to consider other aspects of the bill, including the right for a private citizen to bring a lawsuit. Senate Judiciary plans to take up the bill, again, on Thursday.
