Trade Groups Urge Congress to Beef Up Federal Data Privacy Power

A coalition of more than 20 lobbying groups is pushing Congress to modify draft consumer privacy legislation to ensure the new federal law will preempt what they see as a patchwork of state regulations.

The draft American Privacy Rights Act “falls short of creating a uniform national standard,” United for Privacy, a coalition led by TechNet, said in a letter Monday.

“Without full preemption of state laws, APRA will add to the privacy patchwork, create confusion for consumers and hinder economic growth,” the groups wrote to House Energy and Commerce Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) .

The letter’s backers want to see preemption in the bill widened to override state laws such as California’s Consumer Privacy Act, Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act and Washington’s My Health My Data Act, said Carl Holshouser, executive vice president of TechNet.

“There’s a misconception going around that the bill eliminates the patchwork,” Holshouser said. “The bill does not eliminate the patchwork. It perpetuates it.”

Congress has repeatedly failed to pass a federal data privacy standard, partly because California members have fought against what they viewed as weaker standards than their trend-setting state protections.

Other members of the coalition include US Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), and the Consumer Technology Association.

TechNet’s members include Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.‘s Google, as well as smaller companies such as Etsy Inc. and Instacart.

Holshouser said TechNet’s smaller members are concerned the bill’s narrow preemption could create massive compliance burdens.

Federal Privacy Bill Reignites California’s Preemption Worries

Any path for federal privacy legislation to reach President Joe Biden’s desk before the end of the year is a long one. So far neither the House nor the Senate has formally introduced the bill. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee forwarded a discussion draft to the full committee last month.

Holshouser said his group has had discussions with one Republican member interested in amending the bill to make it fully preemptive but declined to name the member.