2023 is off to an explosive start with more states proposing privacy legislation as they seek to fill gaps the federal government has left while still considering the American Data Privacy and Protection Act. New consumer privacy bills have been filed in New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington last week, and new children’s privacy bills were filed in New Mexico, New York, and Utah. A limited consumer privacy bill passed the New Jersey Senate last week, and a children’s privacy bill passed the Virginia House.

Which Bills Would Have the Most Impact On Your Organization?

The Hawaii Consumer Data Protection Act bill looks to have the most support and is currently with the Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection and the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.

New York introduced competing bills displaying legislators’ determination to pass a privacy law, but as always this tends to create conflict that is difficult to resolve. With multiple bills going to the Consumer Affairs and Protection committee already this year we could see some serious movement in the coming weeks. Multiple bills may generate higher levels of interest, but are often the reason nothing gets approved as we saw in Washington state where the great law was derailed by the ‘perfect’ or more restrictive one.

Simply put, as states seek to fill the gap left by the absence of federal law, they seem to be doing so with a preponderance toward stricter laws (other than New Jersey), which is likely to drive eventual federal law parameters. Whether the FTC develops rulemaking on its own or the ADPPA gets further bipartisan support, we are still hopeful we will see a comprehensive law in the future that, ideally, will simplify compliance for US companies.