Linda Moore President and CEO at TechNet | Official website
Washington, D.C. – TechNet, the national bipartisan network of innovation economy CEOs and senior executives, has sent a letter to members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee urging them to oppose the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA). The bill is currently under review by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce.
The following statement can be attributed to TechNet President and CEO Linda Moore: "This week, Minnesota became the 20th state to pass a comprehensive data privacy bill. This growing patchwork of different, often conflicting state privacy laws is confusing consumers and having a chilling effect on our economy, especially for small businesses struggling to keep up with an ever-changing compliance landscape. If this trend continues, a 50-state privacy patchwork would cost the American economy more than $1 trillion over 10 years, with $200 billion being paid by small businesses."
Moore continued, "Congress must pass one federal data privacy law that ensures everyone, no matter their age or where they live, has the right to access, correct, and delete their data while providing companies certainty about their responsibilities so they can spend their resources on creating jobs rather than paying legal bills. In its current form, the American Privacy Rights Act fails to meet these standards."
"Instead of empowering consumers to have greater control over their data while providing clarity for all businesses," Moore added, "APRA would establish burdensome regulations that will likely entrench the largest companies while imposing significant barriers to entry for startups and small and medium-sized companies. It invites frivolous lawsuits against small businesses and contains several provisions that will undercut the stated goal of creating a consistent and uniform national standard that ends the growing privacy patchwork."
Moore concluded by stating that "Congress should not move forward with this legislation without substantive changes to address APRA’s negative impacts on consumers and small businesses."
TechNet has been actively advocating for federal privacy legislation through its initiative United for Privacy. This coalition aims to unify voices across industries in support of passing a federal data privacy law.
Background information provided by TechNet highlights that since 2018, 210 comprehensive privacy bills have been considered across 46 states. In 2024 alone, 13 states have introduced 21 comprehensive privacy bills. To date, twenty state legislatures have passed such bills including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska New Hampshire New Jersey Oregon Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia
A study cited by TechNet estimates that a 50-state patchwork of privacy laws could cost the U.S. economy more than $1 trillion over the next decade with more than $200 billion impacting small businesses.
Furthermore according to TechNet's data in 2023 small businesses with between 50-249 employees spent an average of $1.5 million on privacy compliance up from $1.1 million in 2020
Public opinion also seems aligned with TechNet's stance as more than 83 percent of voters including majorities within both major political parties ranked privacy legislation as a “top” or “important” Congressional priority.
Last summer TechNet-led United for Privacy coalition hosted an event on Capitol Hill bringing together lawmakers small business owners and organizations representing various sectors of the U.S. economy The event aimed at discussing need for federal data privacy law remains accessible online
