Fla. Privacy Bill Advances Amid Industry Concerns
Businesses said privacy protections are too limited in a comprehensive Florida bill approved by a Senate panel Tuesday. The Senate Commerce Committee voted 9-0 for SB-262, a third attempt in three years by Sen. Jennifer Bradley (R) to pass a privacy bill. "We'll continue to work on it,” the state senator said at the webcast hearing.
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Privacy bills are advancing in other states. The Tennessee House Commerce Committee cleared HB-1181 at a Tuesday hearing, sending it to the Calendar Committee for floor scheduling. In Oregon, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4-1 for SB-619 after removing a private right of action, as expected (see 2303290052). Vice Chair Kim Thatcher (R) said the amendments made a “huge improvement” to the bill, which still needs Ways and Means Committee approval. Iowa became the sixth state to enact a privacy law last week.
SB-262 would apply to companies with $1 billion annual gross revenue or more, if 50% of that revenue comes from ad sales or if they make a smart speaker device, Bradley told the committee in response to a question. The bill doesn’t identify any specific companies by name, she said. The bill also would stop government employees from pressuring social media platforms to remove content or accounts, and would require search engines to be more transparent about how their algorithms prioritize or deprioritize politics in results.
Sen. Ed Hooper (R) sees “work to do” on the bill, though he voted for it in committee Tuesday. Hooper said he wants to chat with Bradley about concerns he’s hearing from many people. Bradley noted critics slammed last year’s privacy bill as capturing too many entities but now say the 2023 version doesn’t catch enough. The senator said she’s “trying to find that sweet spot.”
"The provisions ... are so oddly specific, so narrow and carve out so many different actors that the actual data protections it's affording would be fairly limited,” said Zach Lilly, NetChoice deputy director-state and federal affairs. Florida should make the bill more like Virginia or Utah laws, he said. NetChoice supports part of the bill that would stop government from intervening in platform moderation, he said. NetChoice opposes proposed digital ad restrictions in the bill, he said.
It’s concerning that the bill exempts data brokers, testified James Madison Institute Senior Vice President Sal Nuzzo: "These are the groups whose business model is to collect and sell personal data." Also, the bill’s digital advertising limits would make ads useless for small businesses, he said. Nuzzo praised the bill’s 45-day right to cure and lack of a private cause of action. The bill would make digital ads less effective for small businesses, agreed Adam Basford, Associated Industries of Florida vice president-government relations.
“This legislation risks turning free services into paid subscriptions and disconnecting Florida businesses from beneficial advertising that they rely on to reach local audiences,” said Khara Boender, Computer & Communications Industry Association state policy director, which also sent written comments.
Consumer Reports is disappointed Oregon legislators removed the private right of action, emailed policy analyst Matt Schwartz. "This bill is now more along the lines of Connecticut or Colorado, so while it’s not quite the giant step forward we hoped, it will still raise the bar of protection for consumers in Oregon. We will continue to push legislators to restore many of the consumer-friendly provisions that were removed in the latest round."
California's privacy agency released final regulations for the California Privacy Rights Act on its website Tuesday. The Office of Administrative Law approved them last week (see 2303300073).