CTA Welcomes Bipartisan Effort to Pass Federal Data Privacy Law

The Consumer Technology Association looks forward to working with congressional committees to pass a federal privacy law, CEO Gary Shapiro said in a statement Monday. CTA “appreciates” the American Privacy Rights Act, a “bipartisan, bicameral effort to pass a federal data privacy law to protect consumers’ personal information,” he said. The organization supports a “national privacy standard that preempts state laws, providing legal clarity for companies to operate and consistent protections across state borders for consumers.” CTA didn’t address the bill’s private right of action provision. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has said he won’t “support any data privacy bill that empowers trial lawyers” and that the APRA has “no chance” of passing (see 2404080062 and 2404150059). Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., are moving forward with committee deliberation. A House Commerce Committee legislative hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. It’s “possible” Senate Commerce will hold a legislative hearing, but there will definitely be a markup “at some point,” Cantwell’s senior counsel on the committee, Shannon Smith, said Monday. Cantwell and Rodgers began negotiating in late December, said Smith. The senator didn’t support the House Commerce Committee’s previous privacy bill, the American Data Privacy Protection Act, largely because its private right of action provision allowed companies to address claims through arbitration, said Smith. It was important for Cantwell to prohibit forced arbitration in the APRA, she said.