The draft of comprehensive privacy legislation released on April 7 by U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) aims to establish uniform national consumer data privacy rights for Americans, including by minimizing the data that companies can collect, keep, and use about them.
The bipartisan, bicameral measure also would set one national privacy standard, and would give Americans control over their personal information, including the ability to prevent the transfer or selling of their data, according to a summary of the draft American Privacy Rights Act of 2024.
“This landmark legislation gives Americans the right to control where their information goes and who can sell it. It reins in Big Tech by prohibiting them from tracking, predicting, and manipulating people’s behaviors for profit without their knowledge and consent,” Rep. McMorris Rodgers said. “Americans overwhelmingly want these rights, and they are looking to us, their elected representatives, to act.”
Rep. McMorris Rodgers, who chairs the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the 53-page discussion draft alongside U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA).
“I’m grateful to my colleague, Sen. Cantwell, for working with me in a bipartisan manner on this important legislation and look forward to moving the bill through regular order on Energy and Commerce this month,” said Rep. McMorris Rodgers.
In a joint statement the lawmakers released on Sunday, the lawmakers said the draft bill is the best opportunity to establish a national data privacy and security standard that eliminates a patchwork of state laws and gives Americans the right to control their personal information.
The draft bill “represents the sum of years of good faith efforts in both the House and Senate,” they said. “It strikes a meaningful balance on issues that are critical to moving comprehensive data privacy legislation through Congress.
“Americans deserve the right to control their data and we’re hopeful that our colleagues in the House and Senate will join us in getting this legislation signed into law,” said Rep. McMorris Rodgers and her colleague.
Among numerous provisions, the bill would provide stricter protections for sensitive data by requiring “affirmative express consent” before sensitive data could be transferred to a third party; would require companies to let people access, correct, delete, and export their data; and would permit individuals to opt out of targeted advertising, according to the summary.
Additionally, individuals would have the right to sue bad actors that violate their privacy rights and recover money for damages when they’ve been harmed, and would prohibit companies from using people’s personal information to discriminate against them, the summary says.
Likewise, strong data security standards would be mandated under the bill to prevent data from being hacked or stolen in efforts to limit identity theft and harm, and would hold company executives responsible for ensuring that customer data is protected under the law, the draft summary states, among several other provisions.
“A federal data privacy law must do two things: it must make privacy a consumer right, and it must give consumers the ability to enforce that right,” said Sen. Cantwell. “Working in partnership with Rep. McMorris Rodgers, our bill does just that. This bipartisan agreement is the protections Americans deserve in the Information Age.”