Washington, D.C. – TechNet, the national, bipartisan network of innovation economy CEOs and senior executives, today sent a letter to the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce supporting enactment of comprehensive federal privacy legislation. The following can be attributed to TechNet President and CEO Linda Moore:

“The need for a federal privacy law has never been greater. One national data privacy law would shield our economy from a costly and confusing 50-state privacy patchwork, give consumers assurances their data is protected no matter their age or where they live, and provide businesses certainty about their responsibilities so they can spend their resources on creating jobs rather than paying legal bills.

“Consensus in Washington, D.C. is hard to come by, but this is an issue that Democrats, Republicans, and the American people agree must be a top priority. Great progress was made last year. Congress should seize this momentum and pass a federal privacy law now.

“We applaud the House for holding this hearing and remain optimistic that a bipartisan federal privacy law that works for all of America can be passed and signed into law this Congress.”

You can read the full letter here.

For more information, go to technet.org/privacy.

Background:

  • Since 2018, 167 comprehensive privacy bills have been considered across 44 states, including 44 bills filed in 21 states just this year. By the end of the year, consumers and businesses in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia will all be regulated by different privacy laws.
  • If this trend continues, a 50-state patchwork of privacy laws would cost our economy more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years, with more than $200 billion being paid by American small businesses.
  • Last year, Congress made significant strides in passing comprehensive federal privacy legislation. In fact, a federal privacy bill passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee by a bipartisan vote of 53-2. The bill still needs further refinements to address several key issues, including mitigating nuisance lawsuits on small businesses and ensuring all Americans and businesses are uniformly covered; however, this was a watershed moment for enacting a uniform federal standard and provides momentum for action on this critical issue.
  • 86 percent of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans said Congress should make privacy a “top” or “important” priority.