New Federal Privacy Bill Draft Hits Congress

On April 7, Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Chair of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair, and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, announced new draft legislation designed to establish the United States's first comprehensive data privacy law at the federal level, potentially resuscitating an effort that had been dormant in Congress for almost two years. The American Privacy Rights Act of 2024 (APRA) aims to establish the first ever federal standard for comprehensive data privacy and security regulation, recognizing individual data controls for consumers and related obligations across a wide range of corporations—including the right to opt out of targeted advertising and certain algorithms—and establishing additional requirements for significant stakeholders in the data landscape like data brokers and "large data holders."