Washington State House Nears Possible Privacy Vote

Hudgins (D) wrote in an email update Tuesday. The group working on SB-5376 -- including the governor’s office, House and Senate lawmakers and tech and telecom lobbyists, but no consumer privacy advocates -- labeled a weekend House proposal (see 1904150014) a “non-starter,” Hudgins said. The governor’s proposal, attached to the email update, doesn’t include a private right of action. It would direct further study on facial recognition rules. The House is reviewing the governor’s proposal and working on language to put up for vote, Hudgins said. The bill nearly died but lawmakers salvaged it at the last minute (see 1904100051). The Inslee office draft “largely reflects the Senate-passed version of the bill," opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union “and six national data privacy consumer watchdogs as being a step backwards on data privacy,” emailed ACLU-Washington Technology and Liberty Project Director Shankar Narayan Tuesday. It “cannot be termed meaningful data privacy,” relying “on a flawed structure that vests control over data in the hands of companies, who can override consumer consent or lack thereof by relying on a variety of loopholes and exemptions,” he said. The proposed Washington law “is grounded in the European law and provisions of California’s new privacy law,” and corporations “will face penalties for failure to comply,” an Inslee spokesperson said. “The ACLU and other consumer groups were invited to participate in various stakeholder meetings and public fora over the past six months,” she said. “It is inaccurate to suggest that consumer groups have been shut out of this process in any way.”