Privacy Policy

It is the policy of the Fair Political Practices Commission to limit the collection and safeguard the privacy of personal information it collects or maintains. The FPPC's information management practices are consistent with the Information Practices Act (Civil Code Section 1798 et seq.), the Public Records Act (Government Code Section 6250 et seq.), Government Code Sections 11015.5 and 11019.9, and with other applicable laws pertaining to information privacy.

Personal Information

"Personal information" is information about a natural person that identifies or describes an individual including, but not limited to, his or her name, social security number, physical description, home address, home telephone number, education, financial matters, and medical or employment history, readily identifiable to that specific individual.

General Principles

Pursuant to Government Code Section 11019.9 and the Information Practices Act, the FPPC follows these principles in collecting and managing personal information:

  1. The FPPC only gathers personal information through lawful means.
  2. The purposes for which the FPPC collects personally identifiable data shall be specified at, or prior to, the time of collection. Any subsequent use of the data shall be limited to the fulfillment of purposes not inconsistent with the purposes specified when collected.
  3. Except with the consent of the subject of the data, or as required by law, personal information will not be disclosed, made available, or otherwise used by the FPPC for purposes other than those specified. The FPPC may disclose personal information as specified in Civil Code Section 1798.24. Disclosure of personal information may be required for requests made pursuant to the Public Records Act and in response to a search warrant or subpoena.
  4. The FPPC limits the collection of personal information to that information relevant and necessary to accomplish a lawful purpose of the FPPC.
  5. The FPPC uses information security safeguards. Reasonable precautions are taken to protect personal information against loss, unauthorized access, use, modification, or disclosure. Personal information is stored in secure locations. Staff is trained on procedures for the release of information, and access to personal information is limited to those staff whose work requires it. Materials containing personal information are destroyed as specified in the FPPC's records retention schedule.

Personal Information Collected from Visitors to the FPPC Website

Personal information from users of the FPPC website may be electronically collected in accordance with Government Code Section 11015.5. "Electronically collected personal information" includes information maintained by an agency that identifies or describes an individual user including, but not limited to, his or her name, social security number, physical description, home address, home telephone number, education, financial matters, medical or employment history, password, electronic mail address, and information that reveals any network location or identity. "Electronically collected personal information" does not include information manually submitted, even if submitted in electronic form or information on or relating to individuals who use the FPPC website in a business capacity.

The FPPC only collects limited information from visitors to the FPPC website. Some information is collected automatically to make our site more useful to visitors by improving the content of the site. The information collected automatically is used to diagnose problems with our server, to determine the number of visitors to the site, to determine the types of technology used by visitors when accessing the site, and to protect the security of the website. Only the following information is automatically collected:

  1. The Internet Protocol Address ("IP Address") used to access the website. The IP Address is a numerical identifier assigned to your internet service provider or directly to your computer.
  2. The type of web browser and operating system used to access the website.
  3. The date and time the website was visited.
  4. The web pages or services accessed at the website.
  5. Materials downloaded from the website.

With limited exceptions, Government Code Section 11015.5 prohibits the FPPC from distributing or selling any "electronically collected personal information" about users to any third party without the user's prior written consent. Accordingly, the FPPC does not sell any "electronically collected personal information." Moreover, "electronically collected personal information" is never stored permanently and will be discarded at the request of the user. "Electronically collected personal information" maintained by the FPPC is subject to the limitations set forth in the Information Practices Act and is exempt from the Public Records Act's mandatory disclosure for public inspection and copying.

The FPPC may also collect information voluntarily submitted from users of the FPPC website. For example, the FPPC collects the email address of users of the website requesting a subscription to the FPPC's electronically available mailing lists and press releases. The FPPC also maintains a record of emails received from users of the website including any personal information voluntarily submitted such as the sender's email address. The Public Records Act may require the disclosure of personal information manually submitted to the FPPC through an electronic form.

Contacting the FPPC

The position at the FPPC responsible for the implementation of and adherence to this privacy policy is the General Counsel, at (916) 322-5660. Questions about the FPPC's privacy policy may be directed to:

Fair Political Practices Commission

General Counsel

1102 Q Street, Suite 3050

Sacramento, California 95811.