After its initial hearing last month (see Client Report PRIVACY84), the Senate Banking Committee today continued work on developing bipartisan data privacy legislation. Indicating at least one additional hearing, Chairman Crapo (R-ID) said that the committee intends to compel the appearance of data brokers after Ranking Member Brown (D-OH) and Sen. Scott (R-SC) decried their refusal to testify. The chairman remains committed to applying Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requirements to data brokers that act as credit bureaus, and also endorsed a comprehensive approach to data-privacy standards. As he did in the last Congress, Sen. Schatz (D-HI) supports a cross-sector privacy approach that prevents all companies that process personal consumer information from using that information to harm consumers. Sen. Crapo also seemed open to making data collection opt-outs more prominent and establishing a right-to-be-forgotten. Sen. Warner (D-VA) is also working on bipartisan legislation to enhance data portability. Despite these areas of agreement, Ranking Member Brown did press for prohibiting consumer discounts for data sharing, a position that drew Republican opposition in the last Congress.
The full report is available to retainer clients. To find out how you can sign up for the service, click here.