Most States Will Not Meet GLBA Deadline, NAMIC Survey Says

Less than half of the states are likely to have their own privacy rules in place by the July 1 deadline imposed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), a survey conducted by the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) shows.

The survey found that only Alaska, Arizona, Montana, Tennessee and Virginia have enacted laws either amending existing privacy laws or incorporating GLBA into state statutes, said NAMIC Market Regulation Manager, David Reddick. Hawaii and Nebraska and also have incorporated privacy rules into their statutes, but are still awaiting gubernatorial signatures.

Twelve states–Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin–have completed their rule-making process and have privacy rules in place.

Another 15 states–Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming–are all in the process of completing their privacy rules.

The survey also showed that privacy legislation is still pending in 13 states: California, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont.

NAMIC noted that in the legislatures in some states, such as Minnesota and Oklahoma, are due to adjourn this week, creating a possibility that the privacy legislation will not be passed. In addition, many of those states have authorization bills, which means that even if the laws are enacted, an additional few months will be required for insurance departments to finish promulgating privacy rules.

It was further noted that privacy legislation was not passed in Georgia this year, Thus far in New Jersey, no privacy bill has been introduced in New Jersey. While it is believed that Ohio is drafting a rule to amend its current medical privacy law, no proposal has yet been put forward.

The privacy channel of NAMIC’s website, NAMIC Online, contains status reports on how each state is implementing its privacy regulation. This resource is available at www.namic.org/privacy/default.asp.