Almost breaking news as this happened yesterday, but the Federal data privacy bill has been advanced by a House panel, which puts us one step closer to legislation for how tech companies use our data.
The Hill (House panel advances landmark federal data privacy bill, written by Rebecca Klar) reported that the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 53-2 to push forward the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) (H.R. 8152) to set a national standard for how tech companies collect and use Americans’ data.
That’s the good news. However, several lawmakers from California voiced concerns about how the federal bill could undermine protections from the state’s data privacy law, with both “no” votes coming from California committee members – Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.)
Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) said she would vote to push it forward to continue discussion but would not vote in favor of passing the bill without additional changes.
Eshoo put forward an amendment that would set the federal standard as a floor, allowing states to go beyond the federal regulations. The amendment gained support from her Democratic California colleagues, but it failed to pass at yesterday’s markup.
Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), among the members who voted against the amendment, said the update to set a floor would undermine the compromises made and in turn make the entire bill unable to move forward with bipartisan support.
“But basically what this amendment would do would reject all of the efforts to come to a compromise by replacing carefully crafted preemption provisions, mindful of some of the states, with a provision that would not set a true federal standard,” Pallone said.
Just last month, I reported on progress toward a compromise on the Federal data privacy bill, now it has become the first Federal data privacy bill to make it out of committee!
Still a long way to go, but that’s real progress.
So, what do you think? Will this proposed Federal data privacy bill become law? And is that a good thing? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.
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