SPOKANE, Wash. — Two Washington lawmakers on separate sides of the aisle are coming together to create what they call a landmark bill.
Championed by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) and U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) aims to protect data privacy.
According to McMorris Rodgers, the bill would “establish a uniform national data privacy rights for Americans."
"And what we see is a patchwork of state laws being developed and we believe it is very important that we get one national standard in place," Rep. McMorris Rodgers said.
If passed, some of the things the APRA bill would do is give consumers the right to control how tech companies such as Google, Meta and TikTok use their personal data.
It would also give users the right to opt out of certain data practices and the right to access & delete their data.
“We don't even know if our personal data might be shared or sold with without our knowledge,” said Rep. McMorris Rodgers, adding that people would notified in the future if data was transferred or sold.
Sen. Cantwell added, “We want consumers to have a right to say that how their data could be used and to stop it if they don't want that data sold to a third party and to make sure that if real harm, if that's ignored and real harm happens, that they could have their day in court, which doesn't exist now.”
The bill would preempt current state laws.
According to both law makers, data privacy has been a concern for several years. but the increased use of AI seems to be ringing alarms for Congress.
“All of a sudden, our colleagues - who probably had been saying in the past, ‘Well, I don't know about a privacy bill’ - all of a sudden there was everybody in Congress saying, ‘Oh my gosh, we need a privacy bill,’” said Cantwell.
As of Monday, the two legislators expect to introduce the bill in both the House and the Senate in the next few weeks.
The APRA bill does appear to face a deadline since McMorris Rodgers is not seeking reelection and will leave at the end of her term in January of 2024. However, both legislators say they're optimistic they can get the bill passed by the end of the year.
More information on bill can be found here.
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