Data Accountability and Trust Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Data Accountability and Trust Act - (Sec. 2) Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to promulgate regulations requiring each person engaged in interstate commerce owning or possessing electronic data containing personal information, or contracting with a third party to maintain such data, to establish security policies and procedures.
Requires such policies and procedures to provide for: (1) a security policy with respect to the use, sale, dissemination, and maintenance of data; (2) an officer responsible for information security oversight; (3) vulnerability testing of security programs; and (4) a process for disposing of obsolete electronic and non-electronic data containing personal information.
Deems an information broker to be in compliance with the appropriate provisions of this Act if such broker is in compliance with: (1) any other federal information security statutes which provide similar or greater protections than those required under this Act; or (2) relevant provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
Requires information brokers to submit their security policies to the FTC in conjunction with a security breach notification or on FTC request. Authorizes the FTC to conduct audits of the information security practices of such information broker, or require independent audits of their practices.
Requires information brokers to: (1) establish procedures to verify the accuracy of collected information that specifically identifies individuals; (2) provide annually, and without cost, to individuals whose personal information it maintains a means to review it; (3) place a notice on the Internet instructing individuals how to request access to such information; (4) correct inaccurate information upon request; and (5) in the case of information brokers that do use data for marketing purposes, allow individuals to decide if their information can be used.
Sets forth limitations to such access rights and website notice requirements.
Directs the FTC to require information brokers to establish measures which facilitate the auditing or retracing of access to, or transmissions of, electronic data containing personal information.
Prohibits information brokers from obtaining or disclosing, or soliciting to obtain, personal information by false pretenses (pretexting).
The summary continues for 23 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on December 8, 2009. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on December 9, 2009: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 111th Congress (2009-10), 383 of the 10,778 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.6 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
BOBBY RUSH (D-IL) introduced it on April 30, 2009, and 4 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 3 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 30, 2009, 6342 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 6119 days ago, on December 9, 2009.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 111th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2011 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers