House lawmakers advanced a Senate bill that would provide a basic level of comprehensive data protection in Virginia in a committee hearing Monday.
Virginia’s law could have big implications for the whole country. Virginia’s law, along with a recently strengthened law in California, means at least two competing regulations would increase pressure for a federal law: California has a comprehensive data protection bill, but there is no federal bill.
Senator Dave Marsden’s Consumer Data Protection act is the same as the house bill sponsored by Delegate Cliff Hayes, the delegate said. Both the senate and house bill would need to continue moving through the other chamber, though, before it can go to Governor Northam to sign.
Marsden told the House Committee on Communications, Technology and Innovation that under the bill “consumers will have the right to access their data, the right to correct it, the right to delete it, and the right to opt out of collection and sale of personal data.”
“We hear about hackers breaking in and stealing information, but who has to be worried about hackers when we are selling information?” Hayes said.
The bill affects companies that handle the personal information of 100,000 consumers each year. Companies that make most of their revenue through the sale of data the threshold is a quarter of that. Nonprofits are exempt, as well as specific data, such as healthcare or financial information, that is regulated by federal law.
Data privacy organizations wrote to Marsden arguing for more protection. They said the legislation was a good start but advocated for the same standards for data privacy as the California Consumer Privacy Act. The groups also advocated for specific reforms, particularly around how easy it was for consumers to take advantage of data protections. Hayes said the bill sought to establish basic protections immediately rather than having a more comprehensive bill fail.
“You don’t try to boil the ocean,” he said. “Certain things that can get really comprehensive on their own. The issue of AI and facial recognition, for example.”
The bill passed the senate unanimously, and Delegate Hayes’ bill passed 89-9.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.