Consumers Affected
40,000,000
New York Attorney General Letitia James joined a multistate coalition of 21 attorneys general and Kentucky in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) challenging its illegal demand for personally identifiable information of over 40 million SNAP recipients. The coalition alleges the USDA’s requirement that states turn over SNAP recipients’ Social Security numbers, addresses, and immigration statuses violates federal and state laws prohibiting disclosure of SNAP data for non-program purposes, and that the data will be shared across federal agencies for unauthorized immigration enforcement. The coalition seeks a declaratory judgment declaring the policy illegal and a nationwide injunction preventing enforcement of the data demand.
The coalition seeks a declaratory judgment declaring the USDA’s SNAP data demand policy illegal, a permanent injunction barring enforcement of the policy, and an order prohibiting the administration from disclosing SNAP recipient data to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) or Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for any purpose other than SNAP administration.
In-house legal teams should review all contracts with federal or state agencies involving personal data sharing, particularly for public assistance programs like SNAP, to ensure strict data use restrictions limiting disclosure to program purposes only. Clauses related to data sharing with third agencies, purposes of data use, and prohibitions on sharing for immigration or non-program law enforcement purposes should be added or updated. Additionally, review any data sharing agreements with USDA or other federal agencies to ensure compliance with federal and state SNAP data protection laws, and include provisions requiring immediate notice of unauthorized data demands.
Entity
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Industry
OtherOfficial Press Release
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2025/attorney-general-james-takes-action-protect-sensitive-personal-information-tens
state of california et al v united states department of agri
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/court-filings/state-of-california-et-al-v-united-states-department-of-agriculture-complaint-2025.pdf
California Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/privacy-enforcement-actions
"Attorney General James Takes Action to Protect Sensitive Personal Information of Tens of Millions of People"
"July 28, 2025"
"California"
"filed a lawsuit"
"United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)"
"this highly sensitive data, which includes home addresses, Social Security numbers, recent locations, immigration statuses, and more, will likely be shared across federal agencies and used for immigration enforcement, in violation of the law"
A coalition of 21 state attorneys general led by New York Attorney General Letitia James obtained a temporary restraining order from the District Court for the Northern District of California blocking the USDA from demanding personally identifiable information of all SNAP recipients, including Social Security numbers, home addresses, and immigration statuses. The lawsuit argued that the USDA’s demand violated federal and state laws prohibiting disclosure of SNAP data except in narrow circumstances, and that the data would be used for immigration enforcement against recipients. The order also prohibits the USDA from withholding SNAP funding from plaintiff states that refuse to comply with the data demand.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, joined by attorneys general from seven other states, filed a lawsuit to block the $6.2 billion merger between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna Inc. The lawsuit alleges the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act by reducing competition in local TV markets, leading to higher prices, less local news, and job losses.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education to block the expansion of IPEDS data collection requiring colleges to submit race-linked student data. The lawsuit argues the demand is arbitrary, capricious, and burdensome, and could enable costly partisan investigations. A multistate coalition co-led the challenge.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of state attorneys general announced they will continue their antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation/Ticketmaster after the U.S. Department of Justice settled the case. The states aim to hold Live Nation accountable for anticompetitive conduct that harms consumers, artists, and venues in the live music industry.
$376K
The California Privacy Protection Agency (CalPrivacy) settled with Ford Motor Company requiring the company to pay a $375,703 fine and change its practices. Ford violated the CCPA by requiring consumers to complete an email verification step before they could opt-out of the sale and sharing of their personal information collected through digital properties and connected vehicle services. In addition to the fine, Ford must provide easy methods to submit opt-out requests with minimal steps, audit its tracking technologies, and ensure compliance with opt-out preference signals including Global Privacy Control.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, co-leading a bipartisan coalition of 21 attorneys general and charitable regulators, sent a letter to GoFundMe demanding the platform remove all plagiarized donation web pages for over 1.4 million charities, disclose information about donations, and ensure pages do not outrank official charity sites in search results. The action follows reports that GoFundMe used charities' information without consent and engaged in deceptive solicitations, violating state charitable solicitation and consumer protection laws.