Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) said he’s planning on reintroducing his bill to extend online privacy protections to many teen users soon, adding that he thinks the moment is ripe for it to pass.
“I think people want it,” Walberg said of the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act. “I can’t say what leadership will do, but I have a better feeling that we can push this time.”
The Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act was supposed to be a layup last year, but as we scooped, it ran out of time in the House after passing the Senate.
The bipartisan teen privacy measure, which was reintroduced in the Senate earlier this week, would mandate that users up to age 16 can stop websites from collecting their data. It would also ban targeted ads to kids and teens.
Walberg has hinted the bill’s failure last year was due to it being paired with a comprehensive privacy bill, which faced skepticism from House GOP leadership. Privacy for all ages is a time-consuming undertaking, so if the two measures are twinned again, the teen data-protection will likely have a tough time.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction on the issue, is starting over on privacy, however. The panel’s new chair, Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), has also told us he wants to move on children’s issues faster than his predecessor. That could mean that Walberg’s bill has a head-start.
Walberg will still be leading the bill, according to Guthrie, despite having left Energy and Commerce to take the gavel of the House Education and Workforce Committee.
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), Walberg’s Democratic cosponsor, is still on the committee as well.
“E&C has given us the blessing to do it again,” Walberg said. The Michigan Republican said he wanted to bring it back “as quickly as we can.”
We also caught up with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), one of the Senate cosponsors, who likewise said he was optimistic that House GOP leadership was more comfortable with the bill.
