Senate Panel Advances Bipartisan Data Privacy Bill After Marathon Markup

The Senate Commerce Committee voted 21–7 on Thursday to advance the American Data Shield Act, the most significant federal privacy legislation to clear a committee since the modern data economy took shape. The vote followed a nine-hour markup in which members from both parties traded amendments on preemption, enforcement, and small-business carve-outs.

The bill establishes a national baseline: companies must minimize the data they collect, honor opt-outs of targeted advertising, and offer consumers access, correction, and deletion rights. Data brokers — firms whose primary business is trading in personal information — face registration and audit requirements administered by the Federal Trade Commission.

The compromise at the bill's core preserves state laws governing civil rights, health, and financial data while preempting state rules that duplicate the federal standard. Fourteen states currently operate comprehensive privacy regimes, and businesses have complained for years about the cost of navigating the patchwork.

Enforcement was the markup's sharpest dispute. The adopted text grants the FTC first-instance authority, gives state attorneys general concurrent power, and allows individual suits only for knowing violations — narrower than consumer groups wanted, broader than industry preferred. An amendment to delay the private right of action by four years failed on a tie.

Committee leaders from both parties called the vote a rare piece of common ground. Floor timing remains uncertain, but aides in both chambers said the margin — and the unusual coalition of retailers, hospitals, and consumer groups behind it — gives the bill genuine momentum heading into the fall.