Texas House Passes Privacy Bill; Ind. Panel OKs Senate-Passed Measure

Texas and Indiana legislators advanced sweeping privacy bills. The Texas House voted 146-0 Wednesday for HB-4, a priority bill for House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) that got industry praise for being compatible with Virginia and Connecticut laws (see 2303130045). After a similarly unanimous vote to pass the bill on second reading Tuesday, Phelan tweeted that the bill by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R) “will crack down on companies profiting from personal info & grant Texans new data privacy rights.” On Wednesday, the Indiana House Judiciary Committee voted 12-0 to advance to the floor SB-5 with an amendment requiring the attorney general office to post best practices on its website. The committee revised the amendment to remove “at least annually” from a line requiring data protection impact assessments by controllers. Majority Floor Leader Matt Lehman (R), the bill’s House sponsor, said he wants to establish a commission that can recommend legislative changes after the bill becomes law. It’s not currently in the bill, but Lehman said a letter on that subject will be circulated to the leadership. The Senate passed SB-5 in February but would have to vote again to concur with House changes. Indiana’s opt-out privacy bill is based on Virginia’s law (see 2301260044). Florida, Oregon and Tennessee privacy bills also moved forward this week (see 2304040042).