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The Governmental Affairs team continues to track day-to-day proceedings in the State Legislature as it moves closer to its scheduled adjournment date of April 15. To support completion of the session on time, the Legislature has extended its working hours to address a higher volume of bills. One of those bills, LD 1822, has been closely monitored by the League due to the extent of its ongoing revisions.
LD 1822, An Act to Enact the Maine Online Data Privacy Act, was carried over from the previous session following significant opposition and has continued to face scrutiny in both the House and the Senate this year, with numerous changes proposed. The most recent proposal appears to broaden the bill’s financial institution exemption by extending it to affiliates of supervised financial organizations and service corporations.
After receiving the amended bill from the Senate, the House took action last week to reject the Senate’s version. It did so by removing an amendment that would have exempted political organizations from the bill’s requirements. The House then passed the bill, as amended, by a close roll call vote of 74 to 70 and returned it to the Senate with a request to accept the revisions. On Monday, the Senate voted in favor of the revisions by a vote of 19 to 14. The bill is now expected to return to the House for enactment as early as this week.
Importantly, credit unions, credit union service organizations, and affiliates remain protected by a carve-out in the majority report currently under consideration. The League continues to monitor the proposal closely and will advocate for maintaining this carve-out in the final version of the bill.