Keypoint: If signed by the Governor, entities doing business in Nevada will need to examine their data transfers to determine whether they constitute “sales” under the broader definition.

On May 25, 2021, the Nevada legislature passed SB260. The bill will now be sent to the Governor for approval or veto. Assuming the Governor signs the bill, it will amend Nevada’s online privacy notice statutes, NRS 603A.300-360, to provide Nevada residents with a broader right to opt out of sales.

By way of background, in 2019 – shortly after the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was enacted – Nevada amended its online privacy notice statutes, NRS 603A.300-360, to provide consumers with the right to opt out of sales. However, contrary to the CCPA’s broad definition of “sale,” the Nevada law defines sale narrowly as “the exchange of covered information for monetary consideration by the operator to a person for the person to license or sell the covered information to additional persons.” SB260 will change that definition to state that sale means “the exchange of covered information for monetary consideration by an operator or data broker to another person.” In other words, SB260 removes the requirement that the exchange be for the purpose of the other person licensing or selling covered information to additional persons.

The bill also creates new requirements for “data brokers” which it defines as a “person whose primary business is purchasing covered information about consumers with whom the person does not have a direct relationship and who reside in this State from operators or other data brokers and making sales of such covered information.” Data brokers are required to establish a designated request address through which consumers may submit a request “directing the data broker not to make any sale of covered information about the consumer that the data broker has purchased or will purchase.” Data brokers will need to respond to the request within 60 days of receipt. The law already contains comparable provisions for “operators.”

SB260 does not substantively modify the law’s definition of “covered information” or the five exceptions to the definition of sale.

The bill does not contain an effective date, such that it would go into effect on October 1, 2021.