Resource Center / Infographics / The Growth of State Privacy Legislation

The Growth of State Privacy Legislation

This resource shows the rapid growth of U.S. state-level privacy initiatives from 2018 through 2022 to provide historical context.

Last updated: September 2022

Since 2018, the IAPP has closely tracked privacy legislation developments in the U.S. at the state level. This resource, published by the IAPP Research and Insights team, shows the rapid growth of U.S. state-level privacy initiatives from 2018 through 2022 to provide historical context. The IAPP additionally tracks the status of U.S. state privacy legislation in our tool, the "US State Privacy Legislation Tracker," and published a 2022 state privacy legislation wrap-up infographic titled "Privacy Matters in the US States."

"The amount of activity with state data privacy legislation during the 2022 legislative cycle was, at times, overwhelming. Lawmakers in 29 states and the District of Columbia either introduced data privacy bills or had them carry over from the 2021 legislative session. Twenty-three states held committee hearings. Fourteen states passed bills out of committee. Seven states passed a bill through one chamber. Two states passed laws," Husch Blackwell Partner David Stauss, CIPP/E, CIPP/US, CIPT, FIP, PLS, said in this IAPP article taking stock of the U.S. state privacy landscape.

As the legislative interest in data privacy among the states grows, so does the concern regarding a patchwork of laws for companies to comply with. However, it might not be as scary as it appears.

While there is widespread and legitimate concern about the patchwork of privacy laws that could emerge as more states pass comprehensive legislation, these bills aren’t completely dissimilar from one another," former IAPP Westin Research Fellow and Crowell & Moring Associate Sarah Rippy said in an IAPP piece in September 2021. "Notwithstanding some significant differences, the structure of new state bills is almost always modeled after previous bills from other states … most often model their legislation after are the California Consumer Privacy Act/California Privacy Rights Act and the Washington Privacy Act."