InfoBytes Blog
Coalition of state AGs release comment letter in opposition of federal privacy bills
On July 19, a coalition of state attorneys general, led by the California AG, released a comment letter in opposition to the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA), H.R. 8152 and the Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act (COPRA), S. 3195. In the letter, the state AGs argued that, “Congress should adopt a federal baseline, and continue to allow states to make decisions about additional protections for consumers residing in their jurisdictions,” instead of preempting areas of state privacy regulation. The AGs expressed concern that the bills, as drafted, “appear to substantially preempt many states’ ability to investigate” federal privacy law violations. Specifically, the AGs argued that while the bills purport to preserve “state consumer laws and causes of action, they also provide that “a violation of this Act shall not be pleaded as an element of any such cause of action.’ The state AGs noted that usually, “a violation of a federal law or standard could also be a violation of state consumer protection law. But [the bills] would act as a bar to investigate violations of the federal law, because it prohibits them from forming the basis for state consumer protection claims.” The state AGs consider this language to "unnecessarily interfere with robust enforcement capabilities.”