Outlook for Data Security Legislation

Despite several recent high-profile data breaches and a patchwork of state data breach laws, federal data breach legislation appears to be bogged down in the House and Senate. Currently, the Senate is struggling to find time to consider cybersecurity information sharing legislation, which is generally considered more likely to be enacted into law than data breach legislation.

Data breach legislation currently being considered includes:

• H.R. 1770, Data Security and Breach Notification Act (Blackburn-Welch)
• H.R. 2205, Data Security Act (Neugebauer-Carney)
• S. 961, Data Security Act (Carper-Blunt)
• S. 177, Data Security and Breach Notification Act (Nelson)
• S. 1158, Consumer Privacy Protection Act (Leahy)
• Senator Mark Warner discussion draft

Earlier this year, President Obama made a concerted push on data security by highlighting the issue during the 2015 State of the Union and submitting draft legislation. However, it currently appears likely that federal data breach legislation may have to wait until 2016 or beyond.