Congress is off for their Easter and Passover recess but when they return they will have a basket full of cyber bills. So where do we currently stand?
Both the Senate and House committees’ information sharing bills, CISA and PNCA, are ready for the floor. Many expect the Senate bill to move first with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) signaling that he wants to move quickly on a possible bipartisan bill. The House Intelligence Committee’s information sharing legislation was marked up last week, unanimously passing a manager’s amendment but otherwise not changing the bill. These changes are expected to help please the privacy advocates who often stand in the way of information sharing. Click here for the amendments and the original bill.
House Energy and Commerce’s data breach bill and House Homeland Security’s info sharing bill are almost ready for the big show. The House energy bill just needs to make it through a committee markup, which shouldn’t be all too difficult since it breezed through the subcommittee. The House Homeland bill has a little longer of a road considering it has yet to be introduced but the circulated drafts have been well received and it is expected to be marked up shortly after congress returns. According to PoliticoPro, “it’s thought that House leadership would like all of the House cyber bills to come to the floor together, likely the third week of April.”
Some other bills have been somewhat lethargic since being introduced and mostly are in line with the White House’s proposed legislation. Last week Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) introduced three bills; “a data breach notification bill that is largely the White House proposal, a standalone piece of that bill that would allow the Department of Justice to go after international carders, and a bill that would create a cybersecurity office with a Senate-confirmed director within the White House.” There doesn’t seem to be resounding support rally behind any of the three. Sen. Tom Carper’s (D-DE) information sharing bill which mirrors the President’s legislation has been dead in the water in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Reform Committee, as has Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-FL) data breach bill in Senate Commerce.