TechNet Sends Letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee in Advance of its Expected Markup of the American Privacy Rights Act

Washington, D.C. - TechNet, the national, bipartisan network of innovation economy CEOs and senior executives, today sent a letter to members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in advance of its expected markup of the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) this week. The following statement can be attributed to TechNet President and CEO Linda Moore:

"Now that 20 states have enacted their own comprehensive data privacy laws, the need for one national privacy standard that protects all Americans, mitigates abusive lawsuits, and provides certainty to businesses has never been greater. The American Privacy Rights Act fails to deliver this.

"APRA continues to include language that would add to the growing patchwork of laws, not end it. It gives states the green light to pass new privacy legislation that addresses language not included in the federal bill. The bill also preserves more than a dozen existing state privacy laws and carve-outs for state health privacy laws, like Washington's My Health, My Data Act. Without clear federal preemption, 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.

"The bill also invites abusive lawsuits against small businesses by not only creating an expansive federal private right of action, but also maintaining several state-specific private rights of action, such as the California Privacy Rights Act and Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act.

"APRA's overly broad and stringent restrictions would also undermine consumer choice, impact consumers' ability to receive the personalized content they value, and shift much of the free and open ad-supported internet behind paywalls. Ultimately, the burdensome regulations in APRA will likely entrench the largest companies while imposing significant barriers to entry for startups and small- and medium-sized enterprises.

"Instead of moving forward with flawed legislation that is opposed by a broad cross-section of industry sectors as well as civil society groups, Congress must come together and enact comprehensive bipartisan privacy legislation that ensures everyone, no matter their age or where they live, has the right to access, correct, and delete their data, mitigates abusive lawsuits, and provides companies certainty about their responsibilities so they can spend their resources on creating jobs rather than paying legal bills."

Read our letter here.

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, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, 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 sent a letter to Congress earlier this month urging Congress to pass a single, uniform national privacy standard. The coalition also 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.

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