Last Updated: August 2, 2021

Efforts at the federal level to pass privacy legislation have been ongoing for years, with dozens of privacy-related bills having worked their ways through the halls of Congress. Numerous legislators from across the aisles have worked together on legislation addressing all facets of privacy, from individual rights and business obligations, to special protections for sensitive information and access to records by law enforcement, to emerging technologies such as facial recognition and artificial intelligence.

The IAPP Westin Research Center compiled a list of privacy-related bills proposed in Congress to keep our members informed about developments within the federal privacy landscape. It divides the proposed legislation into three categories: those introduced in the House of Representatives only, those introduced in the Senate only, and those that have been introduced in both houses of Congress. It also summarizes the key parts of each bill to shed light on their most impactful provisions.

In addition, the table shows which bills would pre-empt state law or enable enforcement of a private right of action, two of the most contentious and closely-watched issues within the federal privacy law debate. Bills that are narrower in scope and to which pre-emption or a private right of action would not apply are marked as “N/A”. Each bill is also color-coded based on the party affiliation of its sponsors and cosponsors. Bills supported only by Republicans are labeled in red, those only supported by Democrats in blue, and those with sponsors and cosponsors from both parties in purple.

The IAPP Resource Center hosts a "US Federal Privacy" topic page, which provides a curated collection of news and resources covering US federal privacy, as well as the US State Privacy Legislation Tracker, which includes a list of proposed and enacted state privacy bills compiled by the IAPP Westin Research Center.

The Westin Research Center will periodically update this table. If you are aware of a proposed federal bill that is absent from our list, please share it with IAPP Senior Westin Research Fellow Müge Fazlioglu, CIPP/E, CIPP/US, at muge@iapp.org.

Federal Privacy Bills – 117th Congress

LEGEND: Democratic sponsors | Republican sponsors | Bipartisan sponsors

Bills In Both Chambers (117th Congress)

House of Representatives Bills (117th Congress)

Senate Bills (117th Congress)

116th Congress

The 116th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch, composed of the US Senate and US House of Representatives, which convened from January 3, 2019, to January 3, 2021. Below, you can track privacy bills from the 116th Congress. Please note that the list of bills from the 116th Congress does not encompass all privacy-related legislation introduced.

115th Congress

The 115th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch, composed of the US Senate and US House of Representatives, which convened from January 3, 2017, to January 3, 2019. Below, you can track privacy bills from the 115th Congress. Please note that the list of bills from the 115th Congress does not encompass all privacy-related legislation introduced.