WASHINGTON–Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) Wednesday introduced the Data Security Act of 2015, legislation that would establish strong and uniform national data security and breach notification standards for electronic data.
The bill would preempt any related state laws in order to provide the Federal Trade Commission with authority to enforce the standards for entities covered under the Act.
CUNA emphasized the importance of the bill.
“This much-needed legislation will protect the sensitive financial information of American people by establishing a national standard for data security, protection and consumer notification,” said CUNA President and CEO Jim Nussle in a release. “My thanks to Senators Carper and Blunt for their bold leadership on the important issue of data breaches. This commonsense legislation ensures that those who accept cards as payment are held to the same standard as those who issue cards for payment. I strongly urge the Senate to move forward with this bill for the safety and security of all consumers.”
CUNA has called for strong national data protection and consumer notification standards that align with those of financial institutions under Gramm-Leach-Bliley; inconsistent state laws and regulations be preempted in favor of strong Federal data protection and notification standards; and in the event of a breach, the public should be informed where it occurred as soon as reasonably possible to allow consumers to protect themselves from fraud.
CUNA said studies have found that in 2014, over 1,500 data security breaches occurred which exposed over 1 billion data records.