Senate Bill 8450C, or An Act to Amend the Public Health Law in relation to the Confidentiality of Contact Tracing Information, passed the New York State Senate and Assembly and will be delivered to the governor’s office for signature.

The bill requires that information collected for COVID-19 contact tracing be kept confidential and not be disclosed other than as necessary to carry out contact tracing or a permitted purpose.

Interestingly, the bill adopts the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) approach to the definition of “de-identified information” and defines it as: “the information cannot identify or be made to identify or be associated with a particular individual, directly or indirectly and is subject to technical safeguards and policies and procedures that prevent re-identification, whether intentionally or unintentionally, of any individual.”

Read the full text of the legislation.