Last week, the House Energy and Commerce committee cancelled its scheduled markup hearing of the American Privacy Rights Act of 2024. In advance of a full committee markup, numerous groups from a wide range of industries, including law enforcement, technology, business, retail, and pro-life groups, came out in opposition to the latest version of the bill.

NACS shared concerns over the service provider section and private right of action in a letter it sent the day before the scheduled markup.

In the letter, NACS urged the committee to make changes before the bill came to the floor. “We appreciate that the latest draft of the ‘American Privacy Rights Act of 2024’ made significant improvements to the provisions relating to big technology companies that act as service providers to Main Street businesses, but there remain problems with these provisions and with the private right of action that could make Main Street businesses liable for activity that they do not engage in and cannot control.”

NACS has been working with House Energy and Commerce Committee members and staff to improve the bill. Much progress had been made on the loyalty and rewards programs, clarifying the common branding section, and making some improvements to a few parts of the service provider section. Though it’s not clear when the markup hearing will be rescheduled, NACS will continue to work to improve the bill to ensure that convenience retailers are not held liable for the actions of other business entities.

NACS supports having a national privacy framework and believes any federal privacy bill should apply to all industry sectors rather than shifting the requirements onto the retail sector of the economy. A federal law should not pick regulatory winners and losers among different business sectors, nor should it exempt any industry or business. Only by ensuring that all businesses are responsible for their own data practices can legislation protect consumers without loopholes.