House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) on Wednesday announced the creation of a data privacy working group as policymakers work toward a national privacy standard.
“We strongly believe that a national data privacy standard is necessary to protect Americans’ rights online and maintain our country’s global leadership in digital technologies, including artificial intelligence,” Guthrie and Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.), the vice chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a joint statement.
“That’s why we are creating this working group, to bring members and stakeholders together to explore a framework for legislation that can get across the finish line,” they continued.
The working group will be led by Joyce and involve eight other Republican House members, including Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), who co-chaired a House task force on artificial intelligence last year.
An announcement about the group called for input from a “broad range of stakeholders” who are interested in working with it.
Efforts to pass a comprehensive data privacy bill have failed for years, causing the U.S. to remain behind on protections amid a push from other global regulators. States have tried to fill the gaps, forcing tech companies to follow a patchwork of policies.
The House and Senate Commerce committees tried to pass a bipartisan data privacy bill last year but received pushback from House Republican leadership.
Lawmakers have largely disagreed over the preemption of state laws, which Republicans pushed for.
Democrats have long pushed for including a private right of action, which permits consumers to seek financial damages through court, but GOP leaders were concerned it could lead to too many attacks against small businesses by trial lawyers.
It is unclear whether they will pursue another data privacy bill this session, but an aide said “the committee’s goal is to move legislation this Congress.”
Updated at 5:07 p.m. EST.
