This letter raises three concerns with the bill titled the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA). APRA includes some good protections to protect consumer privacy, such as a requirement that covered entities provide access to the data they have on consumers, correct errors, minimize the data they collect, and allow consumers to delete their data. However, the bill has some significant flaws that undermine its potential:
- the scope of preemption is too broad and might preempt state laws governing specialty consumer reporting agencies, such as tenant screening companies;
- APRA excludes from its protections banks, credit bureaus, check cashers, payday lenders, debt collectors, and other problematic industries; and
- the private remedies in the bill are very limited and could be illusory.
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