As the Vermont Senate Institutions Committee cleared a comprehensive privacy bill (S-71) in a 5-0 vote Friday, Chair Wendy Harrison (D) reminded colleagues that the legislature is in the “middle of the process.” A day earlier, the panel replaced the legislation's language with that of an industry-favored bill (S-93), which consumer privacy advocates have called weak (see 2503130053).
Expect the Trump administration’s FTC to take a less aggressive approach to privacy enforcement than the prior administration, a former FTC enforcer said at a BBB National Programs webinar Thursday. Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has focused on enforcement claims related to geolocation data, said Tyler Bridegan, who heads that state’s privacy enforcement unit.
Senate Republicans expect a straightforward path to confirming FTC nominee Mark Meador, which would allow the commission’s Republican majority to act on two privacy rulemakings.
The Montana Senate voted 49-0 to pass substantive updates to the state’s comprehensive privacy law on Monday.
House Commerce Committee Republicans on Friday requested public input on potential federal privacy legislation. The elimination of a private right of action, preemption of state privacy and AI laws and conflicts with existing federal law were among the topics Republicans outlined in their request for information (RFI).
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) penned letters to the attorneys general of Florida, Texas, Missouri and Arkansas Tuesday urging them to investigate pregnancy crisis centers (CPCs) who may have misrepresented that the information given to them by patients would be protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, said Corynne McSherry, EFF’s legal director, in a blog post Wednesday.
Industry and consumer advocates on Wednesday voiced opposition against two kids’ social media bills that the Senate Commerce Committee is planning to take up.
Rep. Gus Bilirakis will reintroduce the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) “as soon as possible," the Florida Republican told us Thursday.
New Republican leadership for the House and Senate Commerce committees could mean a full reset for federal privacy legislation in 2025. That’s according to interviews with incoming Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and incoming House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky.
Vermont and Washington state will soon introduce comprehensive privacy bills, while Connecticut will have a bill that would add data minimization rules and make other changes to its 2022 law, legislators told Privacy Daily ahead of sessions starting this month. Also, legislators in Oklahoma and South Carolina prefiled bills last month for the 2025 legislative sessions. Additional privacy bills are expected this year in several other states, said privacy lawyers and consumer advocates in other interviews.