House Republicans 'Committed to Moving' Federal Privacy Measure ‘This Congress’

Evangelos Razis said he understands there’s a “little jadedness” surrounding prospects for Congress passing a comprehensive privacy bill, but Republicans are committed to finding alignment on key provisions after the committee failed to move its bipartisan privacy bill in 2024. The 119th Congress ends in January 2027.

The committee received 215 responses to its request for information (see 2502240055), which included submissions from industry, academics, civil society and privacy practitioners, he said. Conversations with stakeholders have touched on different state standards for privacy regulation, he said, with data minimization being one example.

Privacy observers have said Maryland’s privacy law passed with a unique set of data-minimization standards. Razis said it’s not a “yes or no” on the question of including data minimization. It’s a question of what standard to use, he said: “Is there a standard in Texas, Kentucky or Virginia that is more workable?” he asked. “Is the Maryland standard workable or not?” Observers have speculated about the influence of Kentucky and Texas, given committee leadership in both chambers (see 2504100037).

“Future-proofing” the law to account for pro-innovation AI development will be a “strategic priority” for Republicans, he said. AI legislation should focus on concrete, clear harms, which is the approach with the committee-passed Take It Down Act (see 2504080063), he said.

ACT | The App Association was one of the groups submitting comments on the RFI. President Morgan Reed said ACT tried to highlight four provisions to include in the privacy bill: federal preemption, protections for encrypted devices, a right for entities to cure potential privacy violations and limits on any private right of action. Reed noted the committee’s bipartisan bills included limited private rights of action, which can be written to protect smaller companies from predatory litigation.

Brookings Institution fellow Cameron Kerry urged legislators to build off the states' privacy laws, noting the committee’s prior bipartisan privacy bills were composites of state laws.

Razis said the 2024 failure to move the American Privacy Rights Act showed clearly that a “different approach” is needed. Republicans restarted the process to try to achieve party consensus early on in the process rather than sharing legislation and trying to find agreement after, he said. Republicans having control of the White House and both chambers of Congress is one reason to be optimistic, he said.