Washington, D.C. – TechNet, the national, bipartisan network of innovation economy CEOs and senior executives, sent a letter to members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee urging them to oppose the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA), which is being marked up today in the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce. The following statement can be attributed to TechNet President and CEO Linda Moore:

“This week, Minnesota became the 20th state to pass a comprehensive data privacy bill. This growing patchwork of different, often conflicting state privacy laws is confusing consumers and having a chilling effect on our economy, especially for small businesses struggling to keep up with an ever-changing compliance landscape. If this trend continues, a 50-state privacy patchwork would cost the American economy more than $1 trillion over 10 years, with $200 billion being paid by small businesses.

“Congress must pass one federal data privacy law that ensures everyone, no matter their age or where they live, has the right to access, correct, and delete their data, while providing companies certainty about their responsibilities so they can spend their resources on creating jobs rather than paying legal bills. In its current form, the American Privacy Rights Act fails to meet these standards.

“Instead of empowering consumers to have greater control over their data while providing clarity for all businesses, APRA would establish burdensome regulations that will likely entrench the largest companies while imposing significant barriers to entry for startups and small and medium-sized companies. It invites frivolous lawsuits against small businesses and contains several provisions that will undercut the stated goal of creating a consistent and uniform national standard that ends the growing privacy patchwork.

“Congress should not move forward with this legislation without substantive changes to address APRA’s negative impacts on consumers and small businesses.”

You can read our letter here.

TechNet has been a national leader in calling for federal privacy legislation. TechNet’s initiative, United for Privacy, brings together a unified, cross-industry voice underscoring the urgent need to pass a federal data privacy law.

Background:

  • Since 2018, 210 comprehensive privacy bills have been considered across 46 states.
  • In 2024, 13 states have already introduced 21 comprehensive privacy bills.
  • Twenty state legislatures have passed comprehensive privacy bills: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia.
  • A 50-state patchwork of privacy laws would cost the U.S. economy more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years, with more than $200 billion being paid by American small businesses.
  • The average privacy spend of small businesses (50-249 employees) in 2023 was $1.5 million, up from $1.1 million in 2020.
  • More than 83 percent of all voters, including 86 percent of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans, ranked privacy legislation as a “top” or “important” Congressional priority.
  • The TechNet-led United for Privacy coalition held an event last summer on Capitol Hill that brought together lawmakers, small business owners, and organizations representing the entire U.S. economy to discuss the need for a federal data privacy law. You can watch the event here.