Greetings from York, Maine! 

It continues to be full steam ahead for privacy legislation at both the state and federal levels.

At the state level, Virginia's privacy bill should land on the governor's desk for signature this week. Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Utah and Oklahoma introduced new privacy legislation. You can read more about those in the digest.

You can keep track of the latest privacy happenings in the updated "US State Comprehensive Privacy Law Comparison" in the IAPP Resource Center. If you know of a proposed bill missing from the list, please reach out to The Westin Research Center.

At the federal level, a specific facial recognition privacy bill hasn't been introduced yet. However, Reps. Karen Bass, D-Calif., and Jerry Nadler, D-NY., reintroduced the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act 2021 Wednesday, Feb. 24. It passed the House last year and then languished in the Republican-controlled Senate.

While facial recognition is a small part of the Act, it explicity states the tech should not be used: "No camera or recording device authorized or required to be used under this part may be equipped with or employ facial recognition technology, and footage from such a camera or recording device may not be subjected to facial recognition technology."

The House is expected to vote on the bill next week and, if passed, it will then head to the Senate. It will likely face an uphill battle in the Senate, but if it passes, the bill may pave the way for a federal privacy law on facial recognition.

If you haven't a chance to read it yet, check out IAPP Westin Fellow Nicole Sakin's piece on the prospects of federal facial recognition legislation in the U.S.