Committee debates whether to keep H.2 11 focused on data brokers or fold in broader privacy bill S.71

Members of the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee spent the latter part of the hearing debating whether to keep H.2 11 focused on data-broker registration or to add S.71, a broader data-privacy draft modeled on recent out-of-state approaches.

Some members urged alignment with the Connecticut updates in S.71 to achieve regional consistency on consumer and biometric-data definitions; others warned that integrating S.71 into H.2 11 would be a major reconstruction unsuitable for the end-of-session timetable. One member said, “I am not supportive of changing the definitions at this point,” and urged that the committee finalize H.2 11 before taking on S.71. Another member said the committee should try to harmonize key consumer-oriented definitions but cautioned that not all definitions are applicable to the data-broker world.

Legislative counsel offered to provide a chart comparing definitions in the House-passed H.2 11 and the applicable sections of S.71 so the committee can identify conflicts before further action. Members asked counsel to circulate that comparison by Friday and signaled they would revisit the bills once they have a concrete list of definitional conflicts and implications for data-broker registration and deletion provisions.

The committee did not vote on either bill and left the question of integration unresolved; several members said they would not support moving forward unless the definitions are reconciled.