The House Commerce Committee plans to mark up a bipartisan, bicameral privacy bill this month, Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., announced Sunday in a draft bill agreement with Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.
Maryland legislators received strong responses after sending privacy and online safety bills to Gov. Wes Moore (D) for final approval. Consumer Reports (CR) applauded the General Assembly for the comprehensive privacy bill (SB-541/HB-567) that it said exceeded other states’ laws in certain ways. On the other hand, tech industry group NetChoice bemoaned a growing patchwork of state laws, 16 and counting.
The Minnesota Senate’s comprehensive privacy bill will return to the Commerce Committee, the State and Local Government Committee decided on a voice vote Friday. It will be considered as part of a Commerce omnibus bill, SF-2915 sponsor Sen. Bonnie Westlin (D) told the committee at a livestreamed hearing. The committee amended the bill to keep it in harmony with the House version (HF-2309). Sen. Mark Koran (R) struggles with knowing how businesses can implement the Minnesota measure, he said. Westlin responded that a federal law would be best, but in the meantime, Minnesota aims to take the best parts of bills from Connecticut, Oregon, Colorado and Texas.
Gov. Andy Beshear (D) directed the Kentucky Public Service Commission to make emergency rules within 45 days that streamline pole attachments for broadband providers. Beshear signed a resolution Thursday that the legislature had passed last month (see 2403250037). Also, Beshear signed a consumer privacy bill (HB-15) that Consumer Reports called weak (see 2403280057). It makes Kentucky the 16th state with a comprehensive privacy law. And Beshear signed a bill (HB-528) on how 911 revenue should be spent through July 1, 2025.
Bills on privacy, kids’ online safety and an AI-based 311 phone service neared the Maryland governor’s desk last week. On Thursday, the House voted 103-33 for a comprehensive privacy bill (SB-541). Meanwhile, the Senate is nearing a vote on the cross-filed House version (HB-567). Maryland’s privacy proposal earlier received generally positive reviews from consumer privacy groups (see 2402140053). Also Thursday, the House voted 136-0 for SB-571, a kids’ safety bill modeled after the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act. The Senate passed the similar House version (HB-603) Wednesday (see 2404040030). In addition, the House supported similar bills to direct the Department of Information Technology to evaluate the feasibility of an AI-based, statewide 311 system and possibly launch a pilot. The House voted 126-9 to approve the Senate-passed SB-1068. And it voted 132-5 for HB-1141 after amending it to match the Senate bill. A House committee heard testimony on SB-1068 last week (see 2403270041). Gov. Wes Moore (D) would need to sign the bills if they pass the Maryland General Assembly.
The FTC’s proposal that regulates tactics social media companies use to maximize engagement with young users will draw legal challenges if codified, former agency officials and industry representatives said Tuesday during the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Public Policy and Legal Summit.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) should veto a “weak” data privacy bill the House approved Wednesday, Consumer Reports said Thursday. The House passed HB-15 with a 94-0 vote. The Senate vote was 35-0 on March 11. The bill would grant consumer rights to access, correct and delete data and allow them to opt out of targeted advertising and sale of data. Kentucky's attorney general would have sole authority to penalize offenders under HR-15, which would go into effect in January 2026 if enacted. Consumer Reports Policy Analyst Matt Schwartz called HB-15 an “industry bill,” saying it “offers almost no new substantive limitations on how companies collect or process data.” The bill is similar to Virginia’s privacy law but lacks kids’ privacy protections the commonwealth added this year, Husch Blackwell’s David Stauss said in a blog post Thursday. The Kentucky bill treats biometric data similar to a privacy law in Connecticut, he said: Video, audio and related data isn’t considered biometric data “unless it is used to identify a specific individual.” Kentucky would become the 15th state to pass a comprehensive privacy law if Beshear signs.
Vermont could be the first state to include a private right of action in a comprehensive privacy bill. The Vermont House voted 139-0 Friday to approve H-121, which would allow individuals to sue in privacy cases and give the state's attorney general an enforcement role. The bill will go next to the Senate. Initially, the House Commerce Committee decided not to advance H-121 in 2023 after members determined it needed work (see 2304060060). But on Thursday, lawmakers amended the bill, teeing up H-121 for a Friday vote. The Commerce Committee considered privacy testimony for four years to draft a “protective but largely technology-and industry-neutral proposal,” Rep. Monique Priestley (D) said. The amended bill would align with privacy laws in Connecticut and many other states, taking some features from each, Priestley added. Some would be “unique to Vermont,” including the private right of action and restrictions on “how businesses may use data to what is consistent with the reasonable expectations of consumers,” she said. For the Computer & Communications Industry Association, the “private right of action is our main point of concern with the bill's current language,” said CCIA State Policy Director Khara Boender: “The bill otherwise is largely harmonized with existing privacy frameworks” like Connecticut’s. Private rights of action in state laws such as the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act “have resulted in plaintiffs advancing frivolous claims with little evidence of actual injury,” Boender said. No other comprehensive privacy bill has a broad private right of action, though the California Consumer Privacy Act has a narrower one, said Husch Blackwell privacy attorney David Stauss. Whether it survives the Vermont Senate is an open question, he said. "I certainly expect that there will be significant pushback."
The Maryland House approved a comprehensive privacy bill in a 105-32 vote Saturday. A House committee last month heard testimony on the bill (HB-567), including generally positive reviews from consumer privacy groups (see 2402140053). The Senate passed the similar SB-541 by a 46-0 vote on Thursday.
The House voted 352-65 Wednesday to approve legislation that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if Chinese parent company ByteDance doesn’t divest the app in six months (see 2403120062).