Oregon bill would extend Consumer Privacy Act to motor-vehicle makers; exempts commercial trucks in amendment

House Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection members opened a work session March 18 on House Bill 3,875, a proposal to clarify that the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act (OCPA) applies to motor vehicle manufacturers and their affiliates that control or process personal data from the use of a motor vehicle.

The bill’s sponsor, Representative David Gomberg, said the change would give “every Oregonian that buys a car” the ability to opt out of car-collected personal and sensitive data under the OCPA. He told the committee that “cars are a privacy nightmare” and quoted a Mozilla research project alleging popular brands collect deeply personal data via sensors, cameras, microphones and telematics.

The measure matters because current OCPA coverage depends on statutory thresholds tied to data-sales revenue and the number of Oregonians whose data a business controls. Gomberg said the thresholds—either that a…