House Commerce Republicans Unveil Strategy to Establish a National Privacy Standard

The House Energy and Commerce Committee's Republicans announced a comprehensive legislative draft that establishes a national privacy standard to protect Americans and sets clear rules for consumer privacy and data security in the US. Every Member on the Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee will lead on framework solutions in this comprehensive package, which is guided by Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers' (R-WA) four privacy principles to ensure a national standard that promotes innovation, protects consumers and sets clear rules for data privacy in America.  Similar to Senate Commerce Republicans’ privacy bill, the SAFE DATA Act, this new draft bill would not let private citizens sue over violations and would not allow state laws to exceed the “one national standard.” The Republicans are also calling for the creation of a Bureau of Consumer Privacy and Data Security — something that Democrats on the committee have proposed devoting money to as part of their partisan social spending package. Another section of the draft bill includes a legislative fix for the FTC’s section 13(b) authority, which the Supreme Court gutted earlier in 2021. It would also give the FTC the authority to fine big tech companies that misuse data up to $100,000 per violation on their first offense.