Legislative Call to Action
The Education Committee has passed HB 5469 An Act Concerning Student Data Privacy out of committee.
After the public hearing the committee members did make changes to the original bill to make it stronger than it was. We are very thankful to the committee for making those changes necessary to more adequately protect the students and families of Connecticut.
Still, based on legislation already enacted in other states, HB 5469 is still in need of a few provisions to provide our state with a comprehensive law.
Those items include:
Extending requirements to all contracts that include student Personally-Identifiable-Information (right now it only applies to electronic records storage vendors, like cloud storage companies. It should reach all contractors and consultants who handle student PII.)
Clarifying that protections also cover students between the ages of 18 and 21 who attend public schools, particularly those with special needs (right now it is defined as pre-k-to grade 12 only, leaving out those students who remain in the system until 21)
Including enforcement penalties and breach remedies
Better defining “Industry standard” best practices for storage, transmission, and role based access
As a member of CAPE (Connecticut Alliance for Privacy in Education), we are now actively building support to include those measures. We ask that you join us in that pursuit by sending a letter to your own representatives to amend HB 5469 to cover all data, all public school children and young adults still in the system with enforcement and penalties for those who violate the law.
Click Here to write to your legislators right now!
We have provided a sample letter to representatives for you to use or customize with your own message and experiences.
You may visit our website for more information, a link to the bill, our recommendations or to contact us any time.
Thank you for your support and action in helping us to provide the children of our state with protections already enacted in a majority of other states!