APRA needs improvements, should not be attached to online safety bill
A newly filed amendment would add the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA), a bill with significant credit union concerns, to a children’s online privacy bill scheduled for markup by the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday.
America’s Credit Union President/CEO Jim Nussle wrote to the committee in opposition to the amendment prior to the markup. As currently written, America’s Credit Unions opposes the APRA and has worked in alignment with the GoWest Credit Union Association to seek changes from the two Washington state Congressional sponsors, as well as other lawmakers.
“Credit unions strongly support the idea of a national data security and data privacy regime that includes robust security standards that apply to all who collect or hold personal data and is preemptive of state laws,” he wrote. “We firmly believe that there can be no data privacy until there is strong data security.”
ARPA fails to:
- Recognize Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) standards currently in place for financial institutions;
- Create a strong federal preemption of varying state laws; and
- Protect entities from frivolous lawsuits, instead it generally establishes a broad private right of action covering most parts of the bill.
Any national data privacy and security law supported by America’s Credit Unions must incorporate each of the above principles.
America’s Credit Unions previously wrote in opposition to APRA in June before a scheduled markup., which was ultimately cancelled.