{"id":167,"date":"2026-06-03T21:41:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=167"},"modified":"2026-06-03T21:41:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:41:52","slug":"consent-questions-raised-at-data-privacy-bill-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=167","title":{"rendered":"Consent questions raised at data privacy bill hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Data privacy legislation put forward by House Republicans is friendly to businesses, Republicans and Democrats agree; whether or not that\u2019s a good thing depends on which side of the aisle members sit on.<\/p>\n

Read more Cornyn, Tillis could create \u2018wild card situation\u2019 on Judiciary<\/a><\/p>\n

Republicans say the legislation would provide clarity for businesses and uniform protections for consumers around the country. Democrats say the bill would lessen protections for those in states with stronger privacy laws and put the burden of managing data privacy on individuals rather than companies.<\/p>\n

Those views were on display at a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade\u00a0hearing Wednesday. The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Joyce, R-Pa.,\u00a0would\u00a0create consumer rights to delete personal data and opt out of targeted ads online, as well as to correct inaccuracies in collected data, opt out of the data\u2019s sale and opt out of the use of data profiling to make decisions with a legal effect.<\/p>\n

Even with GOP backing, the bill still faced concerns from Republican lawmakers, who probed the bill\u2019s opt-out structure and what consent would look like for the collection of sensitive data.<\/p>\n

The bill would also require data collectors to notify users of the categories of data being collected, the purposes it\u2019s used for, what category of data is shared and with what category of third party and how consumers can exercise their rights under the bill. It would also require companies to minimize their data collection to what is \u201cadequate, relevant, and reasonably necessary\u201d for the purposes they\u2019ve disclosed to users.<\/p>\n

The full-committee chair, Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., framed the bill as an alternative to the style of legislation in place in Europe under the General Data Protection Regulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not competing with Europe to regulate. We\u2019re competing with China to regulate,\u201d Guthrie said.<\/p>\n

Joyce led the House Republican Data Privacy Working Group that wrote the bill. He has emphasized that it will be subject to regular order in the House and that the group\u2019s goals included developing legislation that \u201cprotects consumers, enables beneficial use of data, gives businesses the certainty that they need and can earn consensus among committee Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Related:\u00a0GOP data privacy bill tries again to set national standard]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The subcommittee\u2019s chair, Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., said the bill, known as the SECURE Data Act,\u00a0would \u201cprotect American consumers and provide much-needed certainty for businesses across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bilirakis also said that state data privacy laws, currently in place in 22 states, create a patchwork that is \u201cconfusing\u201d for businesses and leave residents of states without privacy laws out in the cold.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, when Americans ask if their personal data is protected, the answer depends entirely on which state they\u2019re in,\u201d Bilirakis said.<\/p>\n

But Democrats said the legislation, which would preempt all state laws related to the bill\u2019s provisions, would not increase protections.<\/p>\n

The full committee\u2019s ranking member, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., called the preemption mechanism \u201csweeping.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legislation would prevent Maryland, for example, from continuing to protect its residents by ensuring their sensitive information is not sold. It would prevent Californians from being able to delete their data from all data brokers in one step,\u201d Pallone said. \u201cAnd it would invalidate state laws on wiretapping, on robocalls, data breach notifications, civil rights and kids\u2019 online safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pallone and other Democrats also criticized the bill\u2019s data minimization provision as too weak. The bill would allow companies to collect data if they disclose the purposes it will be used for.<\/p>\n

Caitriona Fitzgerald, deputy director for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit research and advocacy group, told the committee that on data minimization, the bill is a step back from previous bipartisan data privacy bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SECURE Data Act allows businesses to continue collecting and using data however they please as long as they disclose it in a privacy policy that we know few consumers read and no consumer has the power to change,\u201d Fitzgerald said. \u201cData minimization only works if it actually limits how much data companies can collect and how they can use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Bessent stays mum on \u2018anti-weaponization\u2019 fund at hearing<\/a><\/p>\n

Fitzgerald also criticized the lack of a private right of action in the bill, which would rely on the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general for enforcement.<\/p>\n

Consent concerns<\/h2>\n

While Republicans were generally supportive of the bill, two had some pointed questions about how it would work.<\/p>\n

Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., asked panel members whether consumers should be asked to opt out of their data collection or opt in. The answers were mixed, especially when it came to the collection of sensitive information like precise geolocation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there should be a blatant opt-in in order for people\u2019s data to be shared,\u201d Cammack said.<\/p>\n

The bill currently relies on opt-out for general data and consent to opt-in for the processing of sensitive data.<\/p>\n

Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., had questions about what real consent looks like online, noting that he often scrolls quickly through policies and automatically clicks \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way this works, you harvest this data from millions of people. And so to suggest that these companies are going to go to millions of people and ascertain that each one has reached that level of consent seems highly unlikely,\u201d Bentz said.<\/p>\n

The bill defines consent as a \u201ca clear affirmative act that signifies the freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous agreement by a consumer to process personal data relating to the consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyler Bridegan, former director of privacy and technology enforcement for the Office of the Texas Attorney General, said the individual adjectives create requirements for companies in the way they structure their consent requests.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a minimum, you\u2019re going to need to be able to demonstrate that the company disclosed \u2026 what they were collecting the data for and how they were using that data,\u201d Bridegan said.<\/p>\n

The bill has support from the business community and the technology industry specifically.<\/p>\n

Ashli Watts, president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, told the hearing that \u201cstrong consumer privacy protections and economic growth are not competing goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to committee leadership Tuesday in support of the legislation, saying it would \u201chelp small businesses who are disproportionately impacted by the regulatory confusion caused by a patchwork of state privacy laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy Bos, vice president of government affairs for technology industry group NetChoice, said her group \u201capplauds\u201d the committee\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SECURE Data Act is commendable because it establishes a consistent nationwide standard that eliminates regulatory confusion, strengthens consumer rights and ensures data transparency,\u201d Bos said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The committee has not yet announced plans for a subcommittee markup of the legislation.<\/p>\n

Read more Senators urge quick action to halt college sports decay<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data privacy legislation put forward by House Republicans is friendly to businesses, Republicans and Democrats agree; whether or not that\u2019s a good thing depends on which side of the aisle members sit on. Republicans say the legislation would provide clarity for businesses and uniform protections for consumers around the country. Democrats say the bill would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policy"],"yoast_head":"\nConsent questions raised at data privacy bill hearing - American Industry Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=167\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Consent questions raised at data privacy bill hearing - American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Data privacy legislation put forward by House Republicans is friendly to businesses, Republicans and Democrats agree; whether or not that\u2019s a good thing depends on which side of the aisle members sit on. 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