State Comprehensive Privacy Law Update – April 18, 2025

While March featured a flurry of newly introduced comprehensive privacy bills, state legislatures now appear to be primarily focused on pushing existing proposals through the chambers. Wisconsin was the only state to introduce a new comprehensive privacy bill in the past two weeks, while Minnesota recently introduced a bill that would significantly amend its current comprehensive privacy law.

Wisconsin's AB 172 is a companion bill to SB 166, which was referred to the Senate Committee on Licensing, Regulatory Reform, State and Federal Affairs on March 27. This is not Wisconsin's first attempt to pass a comprehensive data privacy law, as last year's bill passed in the Assembly but failed in the Senate. Both bills require controllers to recognize opt-out preference signals and to regularly conduct data protection assessments for a number of processing activities, such as activities that include sensitive data, personal data that presents a heightened risk of harm