State Privacy Update

In Washington state, legislation has been introduced to enact significant privacy protections for Washingtonian’s consumer health data. AAF agrees all consumers deserve appropriate privacy protections, especially about sensitive health information. However, as currently written, the bill is broad and would have unintended consequences, unnecessarily limiting Washington consumers from receiving information about many non-sensitive products and services they may desire. AAF, and local chapters AAF Seattle, AAF Spokane and AAF Tri-Cities, submitted a letter to lawmakers expressing our concerns.

In Colorado, where legislation has passed, the state Attorney General’s office released a second draft of proposed regulations implementing the law. AAF, together with AAF Colorado and other allied trade associations, submitted comments suggesting changes to help ensure the regulations are consistent with the law, align as much as possible with other state approaches to privacy regulation, and are protective of consumers while remaining workable for businesses.

Virginia lawmakers are considering a bill that would address children’s privacy issues, including defining as a child any person younger than 18 years of age. AAF wrote lawmakers agreeing children deserve special protections but pointing out the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) already requires parental consent for many online processing activities associated with personal data collected from children under the age of 13 and the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) acknowledges that companies in compliance with COPPA are also with VCDPA. Our letter also points out that raising the age of “children” to include teenagers would seriously impede Virginia teens ability to access the countless educational and informational resources on the Internet.

We are still early in the year and anticipate privacy and data security bills to be introduced and considered in many states. AAF will continue to work with our local members and allied associations to respond as appropriate in as timely a manner as possible.