Requirements of the District’s Data Breach Notification Law

All fifty states and the District of Columbia require that companies notify consumers when they experience a breach of their customers’ personal information.  On March 26, the Mayor signed into law the Security Breach Protection Amendment Act of 2019.  The Act went into effect on June 8, 2020 and updates the District’s Consumer Security Breach Notification Act, D.C.

What is Hate?

What is hate?

Hate generally starts with bias that is left unchecked. Bias is a preference either for or against an individual or group that affects someone’s ability to judge fairly. When that bias is left unchecked, it becomes normalized or accepted, and may even escalate into violence. When hate manifests against a person or group of people, it usually derives from ignorance, anger, fear, a sense of injury, or a perceived threat to the status quo.

Attorney General Racine Joins Colleagues from 37 States Urging Congress to Pass Bill Addressing Heroin and Opioid Epidemic

Washington, DC – As states continue to address the epidemic of heroin and opioid-based painkiller abuse and addiction and its devastating effect on public health and safety, Attorney General Karl A. Racine today joined his colleagues from 37 states in signing a joint letter to the leadership of the Committees on the Judiciary for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives urging passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2015 (S. 524/HR 953). 

AG Racine Joins Supreme Court Brief in Support of Reproductive Healthcare Access

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine joined with 16 other attorneys general to file an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of women’s access to reproductive health care. The brief was filed in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates et al v. Becerra et al., in which the operators of “crisis pregnancy centers” – which advise women against seeking abortion care – are fighting California’s Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency (FACT) Act.

Attorney General Schwalb Introduces Legislation to Protect Personal Health Data of District Consumers and Strengthen Privacy Laws


Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today introduced the Consumer Health Information Privacy Protection Act of 2024 (“CHIPPA”), legislation to protect District consumers’ personal health data by requiring certain entities that fall outside of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”)—such as tech companies that have developed fitness apps or patient support groups—to adhere to strengthened privacy provisions regarding the collection, sharing, use, or sale of consumer health data.

Attorney General Schwalb Sues Property Manager for Facilitating Hostile Housing Environment for Black Female Tenants

WASHINGTON, DC – Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today sued UDR, Inc. (UDR), a District property manager that manages Waterside Towers Apartments in Ward 6, for facilitating a hostile housing environment that subjected Black female tenants to persistent, pervasive race-based and sex-based harassment, including threats of physical violence, in violation of the DC Human Rights Act (DCHRA) and the Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA).