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Three’s Company: Colorado Becomes Third U.S. State to Enact Comprehensive Privacy Law

On July 8, 2021, Governor Jared Polis signed into law the Colorado Privacy Act (“ColoPA”). Colorado is now the third U.S. state to enact a comprehensive privacy law, following the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), and Virginia’s Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”). The new law will go into effect on July 1, 2023. What is ColoPA? Similar to the California and Virginia laws, ColoPA is a cross-industry privacy law that provides certain privacy rights to Colorado residents over their personal data. “Personal data” means information that is linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable individual. Publicly available or otherwise de-identified information, along with employment records, is not included within this definition. ColoPA also utilizes a controller/processor distinction, similar to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), and imposes specific duties on the controllers and processors of consumer personal data. What Organizations are...