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Committee adopts amendment and advances student data-privacy bill with 'right to be forgotten'
Summary
Senate Bill 118, which creates a 'right to be forgotten' for student records in state-level education/workforce datasets and requires OPI reporting and safeguards, passed the committee as amended; witnesses stressed data-security layers and that PII is used only for record linking then de-identified for analysis.
Senator Daniel Zolnikov presented Senate Bill 118 as a measure to protect students' privacy in statewide education and workforce datasets by establishing a right for parents and students to remove state-held educational records from the central data system and by directing the K–12 data task force to adopt privacy, retention and security standards. "Student data is not just data. It's students," Zolnikov said, summarizing the bill's rationale.
Technical witnesses addressed security concerns. Adam Carpenter, the state's Chief Data Officer, described FedRAMP-aligned safeguards and a multi-layered approach: PII is used only in a limited, secure 'record-linking' operation, then datasets are anonymized for analysis. Carpenter said the system uses multi-factor authentication, network whitelisting, and other 'defense in depth' measures.
Committee members asked what categories of information would qualify for removal and whether local records would be affected; the sponsor clarified the bill targets state-level centralized datasets (not every local transcript or school vault). Questions about the effective date and whether the removal applies retroactively were raised; the sponsor cited an effective date of 07/01/2025 but noted some compliance questions remain for historical records.
The committee adopted an amendment shifting certain authorities back to the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) and adding an annual OPI report to the Education and Workforce Data Governing Board about implementation of the right to be forgotten. On a roll-call vote the committee concurred on SB 118 as amended (final committee vote recorded as 12 for, 3 against). The bill will continue through the legislative process and will be subject to further technical drafting.
