Number: RL32626
Title: American Bankers Association v. Lockyer: Whether California's Financial Information Privacy Law Has Been Preempted by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act
Authors: M. Maureen Murphy, American Law Division 
Abstract: P.L. 108-159, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction (FACT) Act of 2003, extends a clause in the Fair Credit Reporting Act purporting to preempt state law and, thereby, establish a national standard for sharing of consumer financial information among affiliated companies. The legislative history of the FACT Act indicates awareness that California's Financial Information Privacy Law, enacted in 2003, would be preempted. Nonetheless, on June 30, 2004, a federal court ruled, in American Bankers Association v. Lockyer, that the FACT Act preempted state law only with respect to credit report information and that an anti-preemption clause in the privacy title of P.L. 106-102, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, permits states to enact more protective laws such as that of California. The federal banking regulators and the Federal Trade Commission joined the plaintiffs in urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reverse the decision and to expedite the appeal. On June 20, 2005, the appellate court reversed the district court ruling and found that the FACT Act preempted the California law to the extent that it attempted to regulate communication among affiliated companies of information covered by the FCRA's definition of "information." On October 4, 2005, the district court issued an injunction against enforcement of the California statute's affiliate information sharing provisions, having found that distinguishing information shared among affiliates that is covered by the FACT Act from that which could survive was not practicable. California has appealed this ruling.
Pages: 16
Date: November 23, 2005