AUSTIN, Texas — Lawmakers in the Texas House initially passed a bill Tuesday aimed at protecting personal online data.
"Each and every moment of every single day, information about you and your family is collected, stored, analyzed, processed and sold. Every day, hundreds of companies gather facts about you, make predictions about your behavior and offer your personal data to advertisers, researchers, bad actors and even foreign countries," State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake) said.
Capriglione is one of the authors of House Bill 4, along with State Reps. Oscar Longoria (D-Mission), Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) and Morgan Meyer (R-Dallas).
Capriglione said HB 4, also known as the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, gives Texans five rights to control their data. Those are:
- the right to know when data is being collected
- access to data from companies in a readable format
- the ability to correct and delete data
- the ability to opt out of the collection and sale of data
- a ban on retaliation or discrimination for exercising these rights
Under the bill, if a consumer believes their rights have been violated, they can go directly to the corporation or the Attorney General's Office and file a complaint. The legislation would allow the attorney general to investigate companies that breach contracts with customers. Those companies would have to pay civil fines of up to $7,500.
The House initially passed the bill unanimously on Tuesday. Lawmaker will take a final vote on HB 4 on Wednesday before sending it to the Texas Senate for consideration.