Industry groups call on Congress to enact federal data privacy law

Industry groups asked Congressional leaders to pass a federal data privacy law that would preempt state laws, establish a national standard (transparency, data minimization, consent for sensitive data), and exempt many small businesses, while omitting regulation of data brokers; privacy advocates contend the proposal mirrors weaker state laws and could undermine stronger protections such as California’s and Illinois’ biometric law, coinciding with new rankings that label many state privacy statutes as failures.