WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) -- A new privacy bill looks likely to fail in the U.S. Congress, CongressDaily reported Thursday.
Federal agencies would be required to assess the privacy implications of any new or proposed rule under legislation approved Wednesday by a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives. However, the measure appears to have little chance of becoming law, despite the recent and ongoing furor over reports that certain phone companies have been giving calling data to the federal government, CongressDaily said.
The Federal Agency Protection of Privacy Act, H.R. 2840, was approved by voice vote by the House Judiciary Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee. There were no amendments, although ranking member Melvin Watt, D-N.C., said he might offer an amendment later.
The bill would require federal agencies to prepare an assessment on a proposed rule's impact on individual privacy and, when promulgating the final rule, to prepare a final privacy impact assessment. It would also allow the head of the agency to waive or delay completion of those analyses for national security reasons, to protect classified, commercial or disclosure that may adversely affect a law enforcement effort, according to the bill language. It also requires the agency to periodically review the rule for privacy impact and carry out subsequent reviews every 10 years, the report said.
House Judiciary panel members' frustration at having to try again was evident today. "At some point, we are going to have to do something on this issue -- more than mark up this bill in the subcommittee," Watt said. "This may be just another show."
Committee Chairman Chris Cannon, R-Utah, placed the blame on the Senate, calling it a "complicated body," and vowed to pass the bill "again and again" until it is enacted.
