Privacy bills passed their originating chambers in multiple states this week -- and there could be more votes soon. On Thursday, the Vermont Senate voted unanimously by voice to approve a comprehensive privacy bill (S-71), sending it to the House.
Expect House floor consideration for the Kids Online Safety Act and the Take It Down Act, House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said Wednesday.
Connecticut Sen. James Maroney (D) took the middle ground in a private right of action (PRA) debate between Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark (D) and Mariner Strategies President Andrew Kingman at a Federal Communications Bar Association New England event Tuesday. The panelists agreed that a national comprehensive privacy law is unlikely soon.
The bankruptcy of biotechnology company 23andMe is raising privacy concerns about the future of customers' sensitive genetic data. Democratic and Republican state AGs and the U.K. Information Commissioner's Office said they're monitoring the situation.
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).
Legislators from other states have told Vermont Rep. Monique Priestley (D) that they'd like to see someone enact a comprehensive privacy law with a private right of action (PRA), Priestley said in a livestreamed interview Tuesday with Daniel Solove, a George Washington University Law School professor.
A Pennsylvania House Committee teed up a potentially imminent floor vote on a comprehensive privacy bill. The Commerce Committee voted unanimously by voice Tuesday to advance HB-78 to the floor. At a livestreamed meeting, the committee also adopted by voice an amendment to delay by six months the proposed effective date to one year after it’s enacted.
The Massachusetts Senate will try to reach consensus on comprehensive privacy legislation this spring, two state senators told us. Privacy Daily has counted eight comprehensive privacy bills so far in the Massachusetts legislature, with four apiece in the House and the Senate.
The Vermont House Commerce Committee split 7-4 Friday to advance a bill (H-342) that echoes New Jersey’s Daniel’s Law. Supporting the bill in a livestreamed hearing prior to the vote, Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark (D) said the lesson from New Jersey is that it’s “a pretty good bill that's defensible in court.”
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).