ACA International reports about new legislation introduced by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer [R-Mo.], a member of the House Financial Services Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit that aims to provide additional notifications to consumers in the event of a data breach.
The introduction of the legislation was timed with the one-year anniversary of the data breach at Equifax, which exposed the personal and financial information of more than 140 million people. The House Financial Services Committee will mark up the proposed legislation tomorrow, among a series of bills it is scheduled to review.
Rep. Luetkemeyer’s bill — the Consumer Information Notification Requirement Act — would amend the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act to “provide a national standard for financial institution data security and breach notification on behalf of all consumers, and for other purposes,” according to the proposed legislation.
The bill would take guidance issued by a number of federal regulators back in 2005 related to banks and apply it to all financial institutions “as if that institution was a bank,” according to the language in the bill.
“Data security is a challenging and constantly evolving issue, but consumers across the nation need a robust federal data security standard,” Rep. Luetkemeyer said in a statement. “I have been working with my colleagues on the Financial Services Committee to affirm national data security and notification standards apply to all financial institutions. My bill, the Consumer Information Notification Requirement Act, enhances the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, ensuring customers of financial firms are protected and informed in the event of a breach. The American people deserve better data security standards, and my bill will give financial institution customers the peace of mind they need.”
