Maine Legislature Fails to Enact Privacy Law

The Maine Data Privacy and Protection Act, LD1977, passed the Maine House of Representatives yesterday before being defeated in the Senate on a 15-18 vote. The bill was originally modeled on the State Data Privacy and Protection Act released by EPIC last year. It was significantly amended over the course of many work sessions by the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, but still included strong data minimization provisions and civil rights protections that would have provided Mainers with some of the strongest privacy protections in the country.

EPIC had worked closely with the bill’s sponsor, Representative Margaret O’Neil, and the Judiciary Committee as they crafted the bill. “Maine has long been a leader on privacy, and we were very disappointed that LD1977 didn’t make it over the finish line after the many hours of thoughtful work by the Judiciary Committee,” said EPIC Deputy Director Caitriona Fitzgerald. “Big Tech is misleading small businesses into believing that strong privacy laws will prevent them from advertising to reach potential customers, but that simply isn’t true. EPIC will continue working hard to educate policymakers and the public about the ways in which businesses can continue to thrive while protecting privacy.”