In this article published by the Practising Law Institute, Partner Kirk Nahra, Senior Associate Ali Jessani and Associate Genesis break down the key takeaways and provisions of New Hampshire’s passed Senate Bill 255.
Excerpt: On January 4, 2024, the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 255 (the “Act”) with amendments, setting the stage for New Hampshire to become the latest state with a comprehensive privacy law. The Act will now move on to the House and awaits Senate concurrence (the Senate has already passed a mostly similar version, so concurrence is expected). Assuming the Senate passes the latest version of the bill, it will then move to the New Hampshire Governor’s desk for signature. If enacted, the new privacy law would go into effect on January 1, 2025.
Assuming the Act makes it through the remaining legislative process, New Hampshire will become the first state in 2024 to pass “comprehensive” privacy legislation (joining California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia), though there is a chance that New Jersey beats it to the punch. Overall, the bill does not impose any new obligations on businesses that did not previously exist under other laws. Additionally, and like most of the other state laws, the Act is only enforceable by the state attorney general and provides a discretionary sixty-day cure period for compliance violations. Despite its similarities to other laws, the Act adds to the complexity of the state privacy law landscape and demonstrates that companies need to continuously reevaluate their privacy compliance programs to ensure compliance across rapidly evolving state laws.
