Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General William Sorrell joined with 46 other Attorneys General in sending a letter to Congress regarding federal data breach legislation. For the past decade data breaches involving loss of credit card data or social security numbers have generally been the province of state governments. Recently several bills have been introduced that would create a single federal data breach standard which would replace or “preempt” state law while providing much weaker protections for consumers than currently exist in Vermont.
“Given the almost constant stream of data security breaches, state Attorneys General must be able to continue our robust enforcement of data breach laws. A federal law is desirable, but only if it maintains the strong consumer protection provisions in place in many states,” said Attorney General Sorrell. The Attorney General pointed to the Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2015, introduced by Senator Leahy, as an example of legislation that does not undermine states’ efforts to protect consumers.
There is a long history of state Attorneys General and federal agencies sharing enforcement authority, such as in the areas of consumer protection, antitrust enforcement, telemarketing, and HIPAA enforcement.
Today’s letter was sent to the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders, the Speaker of the House, and the House Minority Leader, as well as the chairs of several committees. More information about Attorney General Sorrell’s efforts to protect consumers and address data breaches can be found at http://ago.vermont.gov/focus/consumer-info/privacy-and-data-security1.
Vermont AG: Jul 7, 2015. SEE LETTER