Tenn. Panel Clears PUC Nominations, Kills Privacy Bill
The Tennessee Senate Commerce Committee supported proposed confirmations of Clay Good and Michael Ellis to the Tennessee Public Utilities Commission on 9-0 votes. Good was appointed to the commission last year. Ellis was formerly Atmos Energy vice president-operations. Also, the…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
committee voted 3-6 to kill a comprehensive Tennessee privacy bill. Proposed language in amendments to an unrelated 2021 bill (SB-1554 and HB-1467) is modeled on Virginia’s law and the Utah bill that recently passed the legislature, said House sponsor Johnny Garrett (R). It's an opt-out bill to be enforced only by the attorney general with no private right of action, said Senate sponsor Mike Bell (R): It has 27 exemptions including for financial, insurance and healthcare data protected by federal laws. NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo opposed the bill. The "well-intentioned" bill is close to the Virginia and Utah models, but “close doesn't always cut it,” he said. The bill is “almost there,” but the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce fears potential compliance costs, said Vice President-Government Affairs Ryan King. Chairman Paul Bailey (R), who voted no because he said he's concerned with adding regulations, asked the chamber official to quantify business costs. Small and medium-sized businesses might have to hire one to four new staff, answered King. The fiscal note doesn't show costs flagged by the chamber, said Sen. Bo Watson (R). Tennessee needn’t wait for a federal law, he said: “This is a system of federalism.” Sen. Frank Niceley (R) agreed: “It’s important that we do something.” The committee was also scheduled to weigh broadband and social media regulation bills but hadn’t taken them up by our deadline.