SENATE BILL No. 984

 

 

May 8, 2018, Introduced by Senators HILDENBRAND, MACGREGOR, KOWALL and SCHMIDT and referred to the Committee on Commerce.

 

 

     A bill to amend 2016 PA 92, entitled

 

"An act to amend 1988 PA 378, entitled "An act to preserve personal

privacy with respect to the purchase, rental, or borrowing of

certain materials; and to provide penalties and remedies for

violation of this act," by amending sections 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 (MCL

445.1711, 445.1712, 445.1713, 445.1714, and 445.1715), section 5 as

added by 1989 PA 206,"

 

by amending enacting section 2.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Enacting section 2. This amendatory act is curative and

 

intended to clarify that the prohibitions on disclosing information

 

contained in 1988 PA 378, MCL 445.1711 to 445.1715, do not prohibit

 

disclosing information if it is incident to the ordinary course of

 

business of the person disclosing the information, including

 

marketing goods and services to customers or potential customers

 

when written notice is provided, and that a civil action for a

 


violation of those prohibitions may only be brought by a customer

 

who has suffered actual damages as a result of the violation.This

 

retroactive, curative, and clarifying amendatory act is intended to

 

express the original intent of the legislature in enacting 1988 PA

 

378, MCL 445.1711 to 445.1715, in response to recent opinions of

 

the federal courts. 1988 PA 378 was not intended to and did not

 

confer a substantive right to monetary recovery absent proof of

 

actual damages. This amendatory act shall apply retroactively as if

 

enacted as part of the original statute.