WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and U.S. Representatives Frank Pallone, Jr. D-N.J., and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, today released a discussion draft of a comprehensive national data privacy and data security framework. The draft legislation is the first comprehensive privacy proposal to gain bipartisan, bicameral support.  

“This bipartisan and bicameral effort to produce a comprehensive data privacy framework has been years in the making, and the release of this discussion draft represents a critical milestone,” Wicker, Pallone, and Rodgers said. “In the coming weeks, we will be working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to build support and finalize this standard to give Americans more control over their personal data. We welcome and encourage all of our colleagues to join us in this effort to enable meaningful privacy protections for Americans and provide businesses with operational certainty. This landmark agreement represents the sum of years of good faith efforts by us, other Members, and numerous stakeholders as we work together to provide American consumers with comprehensive data privacy protections.

“This bill strikes a meaningful balance on issues that are critical to moving comprehensive data privacy legislation through Congress, including the development of a uniform, national data privacy framework, the creation of a robust set of consumers’ data privacy rights, and appropriate enforcement mechanisms. We believe strongly that this standard represents the best opportunity to pass a federal data privacy law in decades, and we look forward to continuing to work together to get this bill finalized and signed into law soon,” Wicker, Pallone, and Rodgers concluded. 

The three committee leaders also thank House E&C Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, and Ranking Member Gus Bilirakis, R-FL, and numerous members of the Senate Commerce Committee for their input and leadership on this discussion draft.  

The American Data Privacy and Protection Act would:

• Establish a strong national framework to protect consumer data privacy and security;
• Grant broad protections for Americans against the discriminatory use of their data;
• Require covered entities to minimize on the front end, individuals’ data they need to collect, process, and transfer so that the use of consumer data is limited to what is reasonably necessary, proportionate, and limited for specific products and services;
• Require covered entities to comply with loyalty duties with respect to specific practices while ensuring consumers don’t have to pay for privacy;
• Require covered entities to allow consumers to turn off targeted advertisements;
• Provide enhanced data protections for children and minors, including what they might agree to with or without parental approval; 
• Establish regulatory parity across the internet ecosystem; and 
• Promote innovation and preserve the opportunity for start-ups and small businesses to grow and compete.

Click here to read the discussion draft bill text.

Click here to read a section-by-section on the discussion draft.