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H 7640Civil Procedure

Courts and Civil Procedure - Courts - Court Administration

Extends privacy protections to federal judges living in RI and allows authorized agents to request data removal on their behalf.

Signed into law36 Yea0 Nay1 Not voting
Population
Affected
5
Email Legislator
Introduced Feb 11, 2026Committee House Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This legislation amends the Rhode Island Judicial Security Act to extend privacy protections to federal judges residing in the state, including those serving on the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, District Courts, and Bankruptcy Courts. It prohibits government agencies and data aggregators from publicly posting the personal information (such as home addresses and phone numbers) of these protected individuals upon request. The bill allows judges to use authorized agents to submit these privacy requests and establishes a mechanism for judges to sue for legal costs if a data aggregator fails to remove their information within ten business days.

For younger readers

This bill helps keep judges safe. Sometimes, angry people might try to find out where a judge lives to scare or hurt them. This new rule says that judges who work for the federal government and live in Rhode Island can ask websites and the government to hide their home addresses and phone numbers. It also lets the judges ask someone else to help them send these requests. If a company doesn't take the private information down when asked, the judge can go to court to make them stop and pay for the lawyer.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
State JudgesFederal JudgesData AggregatorsState and Municipal AgenciesFamilies of Judges
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Protects public servants from harassment, intimidation, and "doxxing," ensuring that the judicial process remains fair and free from outside pressure or threats of violence.
  • Establishes a precedent for data privacy rights by holding commercial data aggregators accountable for the personal information they collect and sell, potentially paving the way for broader consumer privacy laws.
  • Provides a clear legal pathway for recourse by allowing individuals to sue corporations for non-compliance, ensuring that profit-driven entities cannot ignore safety concerns without financial consequence.
  • Creates a two-tiered privacy system where government elites are granted protections that are not available to the general public, vulnerable populations, or victims of stalking who are not judges.
  • Reduces transparency regarding public officials, which could make it more difficult for journalists and the public to identify conflicts of interest, such as where a judge lives in relation to a case.
  • Includes broad exceptions allowing data aggregators to continue sharing personal information with financial institutions, insurance companies, and for "fraud prevention," prioritizing corporate interests over absolute privacy.
For Conservatives
  • Strengthens the rule of law and protects the integrity of the judicial system by shielding judges and their families from intimidation by political extremists or criminals.
  • Expands necessary security protections to federal judges residing in the state, acknowledging the high risk associated with their positions and ensuring consistency between state and federal judicial security.
  • Empowers individuals to take private legal action against data companies that refuse to respect privacy requests, placing the burden of enforcement on civil litigation rather than creating a new government regulatory agency.
  • Interferes with the free market by placing government mandates on private businesses (data aggregators) regarding what information they can collect, sell, or display.
  • Creates a "special class" of government employees who are shielded from public scrutiny, while ordinary taxpayers and business owners do not have the same ability to scrub their data from public records.
  • Potentially complicates the ability of landlords, creditors, or local businesses to verify the identity and residence of these individuals due to the removal of data from public and commercial databases.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 11 additions · 5 deletions

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 8-15-12 of the General Laws in Chapter 8-15 entitled "Court Administration" is hereby amended to read as follows: 8-15-12. Rhode Island judicial security act. [Effective January 1, 2026.]

(a) As used in this chapter, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:

(1) “Data aggregator” means a commercial entity that collects, assembles, or maintains personal information concerning an individual or an employee of that entity in order to sell the information or provide third-party access to the information.

(2) “Immediate family” means the spouse, domestic partner, child, step-child, parent, or any other blood relative who lives in the same residence as a protected individual, as defined herein.

(3) “Personal information” means the Social Security number, residence addresses, home phone numbers, mobile phone numbers, or personal email addresses of, and identifiable to, the protected individual or immediate family member.

(4) “Protected individual” means a retired, recalled, or current justice, judge, or magistrate of the Rhode Island unified judicial system, as defined in § 8-15-1, and retired, recalled, or current justices, judges, and magistrates of the United States Supreme Court, United States Courts of Appeal, United States District Courts and United States Bankruptcy Courts who reside in the State of Rhode Island. (b)(1) No state agency, county agency, or municipal agency shall publicly post or display the personal information of any protected individual or immediate family member following receipt of notice provided for in subsection (b)(2) of this section without first obtaining the written permission of that individual.

(2) Each protected individual may file a written notice of their status as a protected individual, for themselves and immediate family with any state, county, or municipal agency requesting each state, county, or municipal agency to mark as confidential the protected individual’s or immediate family member’s personal information.

(3) Upon receipt of a written request in accordance with this section submitted by a protected individual, either directly or through an agent, the state, county, or municipal agency shall remove the protected individual’s or immediate family member’s personal information from publicly available content within seventy-two (72) hours; and further, shall not publicly post or display the personal information of any protected individual or immediate family member without first obtaining written permission from the protected individual.

(4) A state, county, or municipal agency shall comply with a written request received from a protected individual's authorized agent if the request is submitted with a notarized affidavit signed by the protected individual identifying their agent as being authorized to act on the protected individual's behalf in accordance with this section. (4)(5) This subsection (b) shall not prohibit the list of delinquent taxpayers published pursuant to § 44-1-34 from containing the name of any protected individual or immediate family member, the type of tax levied, and the amount of the delinquency, including interest and penalty. Addresses, including the city or town and zip code, of any protected individual or immediate family member shall not be disclosed on such list once the division of taxation receives a written notice filed in accordance with subsection (b)(2) of this section. (c)(1) In accordance with this section, it shall be unlawful for a data aggregator to sell, license, trade, purchase, or otherwise provide or make available for consideration a protected individual’s or immediate family member’s personal information following receipt of notice provided for in subsection (b)(2) of this section.

(2) Each protected individual may file a written notice of their status as a protected individual, for themselves and immediate family, to any person, data aggregator, business, or association, requesting the person, data aggregator, business, or association mark as confidential the protected individual’s or immediate family member’s personal information.

(3) In accordance with this section, upon receipt of a written request submitted by the protected individual, either directly or through an agent, to the person, data aggregator, business, or association, the person, data aggregator, business, or association shall remove the protected individual’s or immediate family member’s personal information from publicly available content within ten (10) business days; and further, shall not in the future publicly post or display the personal information of any protected individual or immediate family member without first obtaining written permission from the protected individual.

(4) Within ten (10) business days after receiving a protected individual’s written request, a person, data aggregator, business, or association shall ensure that the protected individual’s or the immediate family member’s personal information is not made available on any website or subsidiary website controlled by the person, data aggregator, business, or association, except for disclosures to governmental agencies, law enforcement, healthcare organizations, insurance organizations, financial institutions, or in connection with fraud prevention services or legal process.

(5) A person, data aggregator, business, or association shall comply with a written request received from a protected individual’s authorized agent if the request is submitted with a notarized affidavit signed by the protected individual identifying their agent as being authorized to act on the protected individual’s behalf in accordance with this section.

(6) After receiving a protected individual’s written request, either directly or through an agent, no person, data aggregator, business, or association shall transfer the protected individual’s or an immediate family member’s personally identifiable information to any other person, business, or association through any medium except as provided herein. This section shall not apply to a transfer made at the request of the protected individual or that is necessary to effectuate the request to the data aggregator, business, or association from the protected individual.

(7) A protected individual, or their immediate family member, whose personally identifiable information is made public as a result of a violation of this section may bring an action seeking injunctive or declaratory relief in any court of competent jurisdiction within the State of Rhode Island. If the court grants injunctive or declaratory relief, the person, business, or association responsible for the violation shall be required to pay the individual’s costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.