Privacy Policy

It is the policy of the Commission to limit the collection and safeguard the privacy of personal information collected or maintained by the Commission. The Commission’s information management practices conform to the requirements of 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 other applicable laws pertaining to information privacy.

The Commission follows these principles in collecting and managing personal information:

Personal information, as defined in the Information Practices Act, is information that identifies or describes an individual including but not limited to, name, Social Security number, physical description, home address, home telephone number, education, financial matters, and medical or employment history.

We collect personal information on individuals only as allowed by law. We limit the collection of personal information to what is relevant and necessary to accomplish a lawful purpose of the Commission.

We strive in each instance to tell people who provide personal information to the Commission the purpose for which the information is collected. At the time of collection, we also strive to tell persons who are asked to provide personal information about the general uses that we will make of that information.

The Commission allows individuals who provide personal information to review the information and contest its accuracy or completeness. Please see contact information at the end of this page.

We only use or disclose personal information for the specified purposes, or purposes consistent with those purposes, unless we get the consent of the subject of the information, or unless required by law or regulation. The Public Records Act exists to ensure that government is open and that the public has a right to have access to appropriate records and information possessed by state government. At the same time, there are exceptions in both state and federal law to the public’s right to access public records. These exceptions serve various needs including maintaining the privacy of individuals. In the event of a conflict between this Policy and the Public Records Act, the Information Practices Act or other law governing the disclosure of records, the applicable law will control.

We do not collect home, business or e-mail addresses, or account information from persons who simply browse our Internet website. The Commission collects personal information about individuals through our website only if an individual provides such information to the Commission voluntarily through our online services. The information that the Commission may automatically collect includes:

• The domain name or Internet Protocol address of the machine used to access our website
• The type of browser and operating system used
• The date and time when our website’s visited
• The web pages or services displayed
• The web page displayed when our website is left
• The forms or publications that are uploaded

We may use session cookies in some areas of our website to improve the overall usability of the site. Cookies are small text files placed on your computer, often without your knowledge, while visiting certain sites on the Internet used to identify your computer.

On our websites, a temporary cookie may be placed on your computer for applications such as online forms which can be sent electronically. The session cookies are used to facilitate the interaction between you and the fields in the form. The cookies are not used to collect or store information about you and do not track you if you return to our website. The cookie is temporary and will be deleted when you exit your browser.

You can prevent cookies from being placed on your computer by accessing your browser’s preferences menu and deleting existing cookies. There also are commercial programs available to help you manage cookies. Before taking such steps, you should be aware that some websites may not work properly if you choose to block the placement of cookies on your computer. You will need to decide whether enabling cookies outweigh privacy concerns.

The Commission will not distribute or sell any electronically collected personal information about users to any third party without the user’s written consent.

Electronically collected personal information is exempt from requests made under the Public Records Act.

You have the right to have any electronically collected personal information deleted by the Commission, without reuse or distribution. Please see contact information at the end of the page to request electronically collected personal information be deleted

We use information security safeguards. We take reasonable precautions to protect the personal information collected or maintained by the Commission against loss, unauthorized access, and illegal use or disclosure. The Commission uses encryption software to protect the security of individuals’ personal information during transmission of such information through the Commission’s information systems and websites. Such personal information is stored by the Commission in secure locations. The Commission’s staff is trained on procedures for the management of personal information, including limitations on the release of information. Access to personal information is limited to those members of the Commission’s staff whose work requires such access. Confidential information is destroyed according to the Commission’s records retention schedule. The Commission conducts periodic reviews to ensure that proper information management policies and procedures are understood and followed.

The Commission encourages all individuals to use appropriate safeguards to secure their computers and the information on those computers.

Please note that our Privacy Policy reflects the Commission’s current business practices and is subject to change without notice.