Businesses Rave About Ga. Privacy Bill; Consumer Advocates Give It a Failing Grade
Democrats and consumer privacy advocates raised concerns Wednesday that a Georgia comprehensive privacy bill won’t adequately protect consumers, in part because it lacks a private right of action. At a livestreamed hearing Wednesday, the House Technology Committee considered SB-111, which the Senate passed on a bipartisan basis last week (see 2503040026). The bill is based on Virginia’s data protection statute and includes several exemptions (see 2502060057).
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Rep. Imani Barnes (D) asked why the bill allows enforcement by the attorney general only, preventing individuals from suing to protect their privacy rights. "Do you not think that that kind of limits some consumers if the attorney general doesn't choose to take that case?" she asked.
With some other states' data protection laws, "the end result is a very lax enforcement of consumer privacy laws,” said Rep. Long Tran (D). “And I'm concerned that this bill does the same.”
In addition, Rep. Dar'shun Kendrick (D) raised concerns that the bill won’t create a simple process for consumers to exercise privacy rights.
However, SB-11 sponsor Sen. John Albers (R) pointed out that many other states with comprehensive privacy laws handle enforcement the same way. Also, Albers said he thinks SB-111 would put Georgia in the middle of the pack when ranking states by how restrictive their laws are for businesses. “I think we thread that needle very nicely.” Any proposed amendments to make Georgia less like other state laws are likely to kill the bill, he added.
Regardless, Kendrick said she planned to propose two amendments. However, Chair Todd Jones (R) asked the Democrat to meet with Albers offline about those before Friday, which, he said, is when the committee would return to vote on the bill.
Georgia’s privacy legislation would fail to protect consumer data, said the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), U.S. PIRG and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in a press release earlier Wednesday.
“We are disappointed the Senate passed one of the worst bills in the nation that protects big tech companies instead of people,” said ACLU Georgia Policy Director Christopher Bruce. “We urge the House to consider SB 111’s failing grade and to draft meaningful legislation that gives Georgians control over their most private data."
Bruce repeated those criticisms in testimony at the hearing and urged that legislators consider an opt-in rather than opt-out approach. Albers shot back, “Not saying that he's wrong, but nothing [he] said was really right either.”
The Technology Association of Georgia supports SB-111 since it’s "substantially similar" to existing state privacy laws, testified Mason Rainey, vice president of public affairs.