ADPPA Seen Having Possible Lame-Duck Session Passage
The American Data Privacy and Protection Act still has a chance -- albeit a slim one -- of passing during the lame-duck congressional session, privacy experts said Wednesday at a Broadband Breakfast panel. Without comprehensive federal legislation, expect an ongoing wave of states crafting their own privacy rules, said R Street Institute's Brandon Pugh.
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ADPPA still has sizable momentum behind it due to how far it has gotten in Congress, panelists said. If outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California brings it to the floor, ADDPA clearly has the votes needed to pass, said Cameron Kerry of Brookings Institution's Center for Technology Innovation. He said there's a particular sense of urgency among privacy and civil rights groups since odds are dicey that ADPPA gets picked up in the next Congress. "More likely we are starting from scratch" in the 118th session, he said.
The headwinds against ADPPA passing have included reservations by Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., about provisions like arbitration, and powerful California forces being against it in the House because it would preempt that state's privacy rules, Pugh said. Both those must be addressed if the bill has any hope of passing, he said. He said one big hurdle to ADPPA passage during the lame-duck session is the major legislation like appropriations and FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act needing action and competing for attention.
Incoming House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., appears interested in pursuing privacy legislation, but it's not clear whether civil rights or private right of action provisions would be as strong, Kerry said. He said a GOP-controlled House clearly wouldn't align with what California wants on preemption. The Democrats controlling the Senate could mean a return to impasse on privacy rather than a compromise, he said.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who could be the next House speaker, supported national privacy legislation in the past, Pugh said. He said there's no dominant perspective on how incoming Commerce lead Republican Ted Cruz of Texas views privacy. Pugh said the end result could be different House and Senate versions of privacy legislation emerging in the next Congress.
Rick Lane, former 21st Century Fox senior vice president-government affairs, said concerns about the business community having free rein on privacy issues are "coming to a head," as evidenced by House Commerce advancing ADPPA by 53-2. Lane, CEO of startup advisory and investing firm Iggy Ventures, said the next Congress "will start putting the guardrails on."
TikTok will be banned in the U.S. in the next six months, Lane predicted. "Do we want a foreign power to have a listening device in every kid's hands?" he asked.