What’s next for APRA?
The House’s Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee pulled down the scheduled markup of the American Privacy Rights Act, (APRA) following a major push by skeptics to quash the landmark data privacy bill last month.
APRA’s advocates — a bipartisan coalition led by top E&C members, Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wa.) and Frank Pallone (D., N.J.), along with state Senator, Maria Cantwell (D., Wa.) — see it as legislation that would make cohesive the patchwork of state bills currently regulating social media. Data privacy is an issue that polls well, but lawmakers are seeing that passing comprehensive legislation that impacts almost every industry is much easier said than done. Some of its proponents still see a path forward, but following the scuttled markup its future is in jeopardy.
APRA advocates were heartened when Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) said recently that he is still “committed to working to build consensus in the House on a data privacy bill.”. The speaker told the House’s Elected Leadership Committee behind closed doors that APRA as written was a nonstarter, remarks which came after religious groups such as Catholic Vote lobbied extensively against the bill, due to concerns that it could unintentionally open up crisis pregnancy centers to lawsuits and harassments from progressive state attorneys general.
Some Conservative supporters, including the Heritage Foundation, whose Tech Policy Director Kara Frederick praised the bill’s provisions to enshrine Americans’ user data and to circumscribe certain commercial microtargeting practices, support the bill in its current form.
However,, APRA still has influential detractors,especially in the technology sector. One Republican staffer told the Reporter that one of big tech’s top lobbyists threatened Republican lawmakers that “tech wouldn’t give any Republicans money if they moved APRA.” Another source said that a tech advocate promised to “fund a super-PAC to go after any Republicans who vote for this bill.”
The bill was also opposed by leadership, in particular by Leader Steve Scalise (R., La.), according to our sources, who expressed concerns about the unintended consequences of the bill. A staffer for an E&C member took a swipe at Rep. Scalise, telling Reporter that Rep. Scalise “hates it the most because downtown hates it.”
Conservative concerns went beyond problems voiced by big tech. One House staffer told the Reporter that “a lot of [GOP] members have been raising concerns about increased liability for small businesses in their districts and the potential for pro-life groups to be targeted,” adding that “conservatives across the conference were working behind the scenes to get leadership to kill the bill.” Another staffer for an E&C Committee member told the Reporter, “I got literally 400 emails about this,” all opposing it.
One tech expert opposed to APRA told the Reporter that his industry’s concerns are that this “far left bill” would “wreck the economy” through giveaways to trial lawyers while failing to actually preempt the state-based tech regulations due to over one dozen state carve-outs. The E&C Committee pushed back on this, with an aide on the Republican side telling the Reporter that “APRA is fully preemptive of state comprehensive data privacy laws,” which is “why states like California, Colorado, and others came out against the bill: because they know it preempts them.”
APRA’s future is unresolved, however, the chance of this bill passing in anything close to its current form seems exceedingly unlikely. An E&C member’s staffer told the Reporter that “CMR is still trying, but who knows” if a renewed push will happen. If the committee tries again, “it’s destined for another failed markup,” an opponent of APRA’s said.
