Privacy Laws Heating Up Across the US

2021 may be the year that privacy legislation explodes across the US.  Already, several states including New York, Virginia, and Washington have introduced some form of privacy legislation (many are re-introducing bills that did not pass in 2020).  In addition, California voters approved a measure in the fall 2020 election that will create a new enforcement agency (and enforcement budget!) as well as heightened requirements under its privacy law.  Biometric information (such as facial recognition) and consumer access/deletion rights are likely to be hot topics as new state laws emerge.  

It will behoove most US companies to (1) pay close attention to the laws that apply to their operations (where employees live, where suppliers are located, where customers live) and (2) understand whether they collect any data that would be subject to new compliance obligations in those states.