Florida House Commerce Committee members backed a privacy bill containing a private right of action (PRA) unanimously and on a bipartisan basis at a livestreamed Thursday hearing. Possible litigation and compliance costs from the comprehensive bill aren’t concerning enough to vote no, said committee members. Bipartisan policymaking can still happen in state legislatures, unlike in Congress, said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) on a Freedom of Privacy Forum webinar later that day.

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Earn It Act by voice vote Thursday (see 2202090050 and 2202010019). Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., vowed to push a companion measure forward in the House. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told us he’s going to “fight” the bill “every step of the way.”

The State Department has crafted new guidelines for preparing defense trade agreements and plans to release them soon, said Catherine Hamilton, licensing director at the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. She said the agency also plans to make changes to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to reflect the new document, which would update submission guidelines for Technical Assistance Agreements, Manufacturing License Agreements, and Warehouse and Distribution Agreements.

An Ohio House panel split by party as it narrowly advanced a comprehensive privacy bill Wednesday. The Government Oversight Committee voted 7-5 for HB-376 at the measure’s fifth hearing before the panel. All Democratic members voted no. Chairman Shane Wilkin (R) ruled as out of order an amendment by ranking member Richard Brown (D), who sought to remove a restriction on private lawsuits and language giving exclusive enforcement authority to the state attorney general. HB-376 can now be scheduled for a floor vote. In Connecticut, 19 Senate Democrats including Sen. Martin Looney and Majority Leader Bob Duff introduced a one-page privacy bill (SB-6) to raise funding to the attorney general’s office “to increase efforts to protect consumer personal information and data from unwanted sale and dissemination.” Edits to Virginia’s privacy law advanced Tuesday. The House Commerce Committee voted 21-1 for HB-1259, saying data about race, religion, sexual orientation, citizenship and certain other things is sensitive only “when used to make a decision that results in legal or similarly significant effects concerning a consumer.” The Finance and Appropriations Committee voted 13-2 for SB-534 to authorize the AG to pursue actual damages to consumers if a data controller or processor continues to violate the privacy law after the 30-day right to cure ends or if it breaches an express written statement it gave the AG. Also, it would clarify that political organizations are nonprofits exempt from the act. The AG may decide if a cure is possible, it said. And the bill would abolish the consumer privacy fund, placing all money collected by enforcement instead in a different state trust fund. The Florida House Commerce Committee plans a Thursday hearing on a comprehensive privacy bill (HB-9), resurrected from a failed 2021 bill, by Rep. Fiona McFarland (D). A New York state privacy bill advanced Tuesday (see 2202080051).

An Ohio House panel split by party as it narrowly advanced a comprehensive privacy bill Wednesday. The Government Oversight Committee voted 7-5 for HB-376 at the measure’s fifth hearing before the panel. All Democratic members voted no. Chairman Shane Wilkin (R) ruled as out of order an amendment by ranking member Richard Brown (D), who sought to remove a restriction on private lawsuits and language giving exclusive enforcement authority to the state attorney general. HB-376 can now be scheduled for a floor vote. In Connecticut, 19 Senate Democrats including Sen. Martin Looney and Majority Leader Bob Duff introduced a one-page privacy bill (SB-6) to raise funding to the attorney general’s office “to increase efforts to protect consumer personal information and data from unwanted sale and dissemination.” Edits to Virginia’s privacy law advanced Tuesday. The House Commerce Committee voted 21-1 for HB-1259, saying data about race, religion, sexual orientation, citizenship and certain other things is sensitive only “when used to make a decision that results in legal or similarly significant effects concerning a consumer.” The Finance and Appropriations Committee voted 13-2 for SB-534 to authorize the AG to pursue actual damages to consumers if a data controller or processor continues to violate the privacy law after the 30-day right to cure ends or if it breaches an express written statement it gave the AG. Also, it would clarify that political organizations are nonprofits exempt from the act. The AG may decide if a cure is possible, it said. And the bill would abolish the consumer privacy fund, placing all money collected by enforcement instead in a different state trust fund. The Florida House Commerce Committee plans a Thursday hearing on a comprehensive privacy bill (HB-9), resurrected from a failed 2021 bill, by Rep. Fiona McFarland (D). A New York state privacy bill advanced Tuesday (see 2202080051).

A U.S. solar panel manufacturer on Feb. 8 filed another request for an anti-circumvention inquiry on solar cells from third countries made from Chinese inputs, including polysilicon wafers and ingots. Auxin Solar says solar cell imports from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia are circumventing the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from China (A-570-979/C-570-980), in a request filed months after a similar petition from a group of anonymous solar producers was rejected by the Commerce Department.

The Senate Commerce Committee’s Wednesday follow-up confirmation hearing on Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn changed next to nothing about the dynamics driving her prospects for winning the chamber’s approval, said lawmakers and communications policy observers in interviews. Committee Democrats, even those who were latecomers to supporting Sohn, said during and after the hearing they still back her. Panel Republicans remained steadfastly opposed to the nominee, in part citing what they viewed as her still-insufficient candor about her role as a board member for Locast operator Sports Fans Coalition and her January commitment to temporarily recuse herself from some FCC proceedings involving retransmission consent and broadcast copyright matters.

The FCC will soon adopt rules that "crack down on revenue sharing” and exclusive access arrangements between broadband providers and building owners in multi-tenant environments said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel during an Incompas policy summit in Washington Tuesday (see 2201210039). The record the FCC received last year on broadband access in MTEs “made one thing very clear,” Rosenworcel said: “The agency’s existing rules are not what they could be.” Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington encouraged NTIA to prioritize unserved areas in its new broadband programs. Other panelists urged the FCC to revise the USF.

Senate Commerce Committee Republicans told us they’re interested in pursuing a follow-up confirmation hearing with Democratic FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya given their hopes for the outcome of a Wednesday panel with FCC nominee Gigi Sohn that will serve as her de facto second confirmation hearing. Senate Commerce postponed planned votes last week on Bedoya and Sohn, in part citing the extended absence of Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., while he recovers from a stroke (see 2202010070).

A U.S. solar panel manufacturer on Feb. 8 filed another request for an anti-circumvention inquiry on solar cells from third countries made from Chinese inputs, including polysilicon wafers and ingots. Auxin Solar says solar cell imports from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia are circumventing the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from China (A-570-979/C-570-980), in a request filed months after a similar petition from a group of anonymous solar producers was rejected by the Commerce Department.