California Distracted Driving, Privacy Advocate Seeks to Succeed Eshoo in House
Santa Clara County, California, Supervisor Joe Simitian (D), who was active on distracted driving, privacy and surveillance issues as a state senator, said Wednesday he’s running to succeed retiring House Communications Subcommittee senior member Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. Eshoo announced…
last week she wasn’t running for reelection in 2024 (see 2311210073). She is one of seven House Commerce Committee members who have announced their retirement. Simitian’s announcement didn’t highlight his telecom and privacy legislative work. He authored a Santa Clara County surveillance transparency ordinance (see 1609090061) and in 2017 aided work on similar state-level legislation (see 1703140017) by Sen. Jerry Hill (D) that stalled in the California legislature. Simitian, while a state senator, pressed for legislation that would hike fines for using a cellphone while driving (see 1002260137). He also pressed for changes to California’s data breach notification law (see 0903100129).