California objects to 23andMe sale to former CEO, says it would skirt state privacy law

23andMe's two-step sale to a nonprofit led by former CEO Anne Wojcicki is nothing more than a dance around California's genetic privacy law, state Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a filing late Monday, one day before a judge will review the deal.

In an objection filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis, Bonta's team said the proposed structure of 23andMe's sale to a nonprofit formed by Wojcicki skirts a 2021 state law that would require consumers give their "separate and express" consent before their genetic data and biological samples are transferred or disclosed.

More than 20 states have opposed the sale process due to concerns that consumers' genetic information and other private data would be exposed to uses they didn't agree to when signing up for 23andMe's service. In 23andMe's home state of California, the Genetic Information Privacy Act of 2021 should empower consumers to give proactive approval to transfer their data, the filing states.

23andMe doesn't dispute that the law applies, according to the filing, but fears that compliance would be "too costly" because many Californians would...