A sweeping new federal legislative proposal could reshape how American companies collect, use, and profit from consumer data. Here is what you need to know.
Your compliance team is already toggling between 20+ state privacy laws—one spreadsheet for California, another for Texas, a third for Colorado. Meanwhile, every smartphone app is quietly sharing location data, health metrics, and browsing history with dozens of third parties. For businesses, it is an operational nightmare. For consumers, it is an invisible free-for-all. That may be about to change.
On 21 April 2026, House Republicans released the SECURE Data Act (H.R. 8413) (the Act), the most comprehensive attempt yet to create a national data privacy standard. Paired with the GUARD Financial Data Act (H.R. 8398), which covers financial institutions under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the two bills aim to eliminate gaps and overlaps in consumer data protection across the entire economy.
