Protecting Vulnerable Population’s Data Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4953 To prohibit data brokers from selling, trading, licensing, or otherwise pro- viding for consideration lists of vulnerable populations to any individual or commercial entity. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 2, 2020 Mr. CASSIDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To prohibit data brokers from selling, trading, licensing, or otherwise providing for consideration lists of vulner- able populations to any individual or commercial entity. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Vulnerable 4 Population’s Data Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS AND PRACTICES RE- 6 LATING TO VULNERABLE POPULATION LISTS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for a data 8 broker to sell, license, trade, or otherwise provide or make 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Dec 09, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4953.IS S4953 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4953 IS available for consideration a vulnerable population list to 1 any commercial entity or individual. 2 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The prohibition under sub- 3 section (a) shall take effect on the earlier of— 4 (1) the date the Commission issues the final 5 rule under section 3(a)(3); or 6 (2) 1 year after the date of enactment of this 7 Act. 8 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT. 9 (a) ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM- 10 MISSION.— 11 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC- 12 TICES.—A violation of section 2 shall be treated as 13 a violation of a rule defining an unfair or a deceptive 14 act or practice under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Fed- 15 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 16 57a(a)(1)(B)). 17 (2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.— 18 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 19 subparagraph (D), the Commission shall en- 20 force section 2 in the same manner, by the 21 same means, and with the same jurisdiction, 22 powers, and duties as though all applicable 23 terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Dec 09, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4953.IS S4953 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4953 IS Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were in- 1 corporated into and made a part of this Act. 2 (B) PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.—Any 3 person who violates section 2 shall be subject to 4 the penalties and entitled to the privileges and 5 immunities provided in the Federal Trade Com- 6 mission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 7 (C) AUTHORITY PRESERVED.—Nothing in 8 this Act shall be construed to limit the author- 9 ity of the Federal Trade Commission under any 10 other provision of law. 11 (D) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.—Not- 12 withstanding section 4 of the Federal Trade 13 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 44) or any jurisdic- 14 tional limitation of the Commission, the Com- 15 mission shall also enforce this Act, in the same 16 manner provided in subparagraphs (A) and (B), 17 with respect to organizations not organized to 18 carry on business for their own profit or that 19 of their members. 20 (3) RULEMAKING.—Pursuant to section 553 of 21 title 5, United States Code, the Commission shall 22 promulgate regulations to carry out the provisions of 23 this Act. The Commission shall issue a final rule by 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Dec 09, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4953.IS S4953 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4953 IS not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 1 this Act. 2 (b) ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which the at- 4 torney general of a State has reason to believe that 5 an interest of the residents of the State has been or 6 is threatened or adversely affected by the engage- 7 ment of any data broker subject to section 2 in a 8 practice that violates such section, the attorney gen- 9 eral of the State may, as parens patriae, bring a 10 civil action on behalf of the residents of the State in 11 an appropriate district court of the United States— 12 (A) to enjoin further violation of such sec- 13 tion by such person; 14 (B) to compel compliance with such sec- 15 tion; and 16 (C) to obtain damages, restitution, or other 17 compensation on behalf of such residents. 18 (2) RIGHTS OF FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS- 19 SION.— 20 (A) NOTICE TO FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS- 21 SION.— 22 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 23 in clause (iii), the attorney general of a 24 State shall notify the Commission in writ- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Dec 09, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4953.IS S4953 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4953 IS ing that the attorney general intends to 1 bring a civil action under paragraph (1) 2 not later than 10 days before initiating the 3 civil action. 4 (ii) CONTENTS.—The notification re- 5 quired by clause (i) with respect to a civil 6 action shall include a copy of the complaint 7 to be filed to initiate the civil action. 8 (iii) EXCEPTION.—If it is not feasible 9 for the attorney general of a State to pro- 10 vide the notification required by clause (i) 11 before initiating a civil action under para- 12 graph (1), the attorney general shall notify 13 the Commission immediately upon insti- 14 tuting the civil action. 15 (B) INTERVENTION BY FEDERAL TRADE 16 COMMISSION.—The Commission may— 17 (i) intervene in any civil action 18 brought by the attorney general of a State 19 under paragraph (1); and 20 (ii) upon intervening— 21 (I) be heard on all matters aris- 22 ing in the civil action; and 23 (II) file petitions for appeal of a 24 decision in the civil action. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Dec 09, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4953.IS S4953 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4953 IS (3) INVESTIGATORY POWERS.—Nothing in this 1 subsection may be construed to prevent the attorney 2 general of a State from exercising the powers con- 3 ferred on the attorney general by the laws of the 4 State to conduct investigations, to administer oaths 5 or affirmations, or to compel the attendance of wit- 6 nesses or the production of documentary or other 7 evidence. 8 (4) PREEMPTIVE ACTION BY FEDERAL TRADE 9 COMMISSION.—If the Commission institutes a civil 10 action or an administrative action with respect to a 11 violation of section 2, the attorney general of a State 12 may not, during the pendency of such action, bring 13 a civil action under paragraph (1) against any de- 14 fendant named in the complaint of the Commission 15 for the violation with respect to which the Commis- 16 sion instituted such action. 17 (5) VENUE; SERVICE OF PROCESS.— 18 (A) VENUE.—Any action brought under 19 paragraph (1) may be brought in— 20 (i) the district court of the United 21 States that meets applicable requirements 22 relating to venue under section 1391 of 23 title 28, United States Code; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Dec 09, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4953.IS S4953 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4953 IS (ii) another court of competent juris- 1 diction. 2 (B) SERVICE OF PROCESS.—In an action 3 brought under paragraph (1), process may be 4 served in any district in which the defendant— 5 (i) is an inhabitant; or 6 (ii) may be found. 7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 8 In this Act: 9 (1) COMMERCIAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘commer- 10 cial entity’’ means an entity, whether organized for 11 profit or not for profit, that is organized under the 12 laws of any State, including a sole proprietorship, a 13 partnership, a limited liability partnership, a cor- 14 poration, an association, and a limited liability com- 15 pany. 16 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 17 means the Federal Trade Commission. 18 (3) CONSUMER.—The term ‘‘consumer’’ means 19 an individual residing in a State. 20 (4) DATA BROKER.—The term ‘‘data broker’’ 21 means a business that knowingly collects and sells to 22 third parties the personal information of a consumer 23 with whom the business does not have a direct rela- 24 tionship. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Dec 09, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4953.IS S4953 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4953 IS (5) PERSONAL INFORMATION.—The term ‘‘per- 1 sonal information’’ means information that is linked 2 or reasonably linkable to any identified or identifi- 3 able person or device. 4 (6) PUBLIC RECORD INFORMATION.—The term 5 ‘‘public record information’’ means information that 6 is lawfully made available from Federal, State, or 7 local government records provided that the data 8 broker processes and transfers such information in 9 accordance with any restrictions or terms of use 10 placed on the information by the relevant govern- 11 ment entity. 12 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 13 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 14 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American 15 Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 16 Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. 17 (8) VULNERABLE POPULATION LIST.—The 18 term ‘‘vulnerable population list’’ means a list that 19 includes personal information (other than public 20 record information) about one or more individuals or 21 households which is created for the express or im- 22 plied purpose of compiling information about one or 23 more individuals or households in one or more of the 24 following categories (or similar categories): 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Dec 09, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4953.IS S4953 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4953 IS (A) Survivors of domestic abuse. 1 (B) Survivors of child abuse. 2 (C) Survivors of elder abuse. 3 (D) Survivors of any sex crime, including, 4 but not limited to rape, sexual assault, or sex- 5 ual battery. 6 (E) Victims of stalking. 7 (F) Victims of human trafficking. 8 (G) Victims of violent crimes. 9 (H) Individuals diagnosed with a disease, 10 such as HIV/AIDS, a genetic disease, or de- 11 mentia. 12 (I) Individuals identified as having addict- 13 ive behavior or having received clinical treat- 14 ment for addiction, including, but not limited 15 to, addictions to alcohol, drugs, or sex. 16 (J) Individuals identified by prescriptions 17 taken. 18 (K) Local, State, or Federal law enforce- 19 ment officers. 20 (L) Judges and justices of the State or 21 Federal judiciary. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Dec 09, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4953.IS S4953 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS