Congress gives you a delete button for your data across all brokers

What it does

This bill creates a federal system allowing people to request deletion of their personal information from all registered data brokers in one place. Data brokers must register with the FTC, disclose what data they collect, and comply with deletion requests within 31 days using a hashed-registry system that protects privacy during the matching process. The FTC enforces compliance and data brokers pay an annual fee (capped at 1% of system operating costs) to access the deletion registry.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a federally mandated deletion right and centralized system for individuals to control their personal data held by commercial data brokers. This is a consumer protection measure, not a tax provision, subsidy, or commemorative act.

What the text implies

• The hashed-registry system allows data brokers to query whether a persistent identifier is subject to a deletion request BEFORE collecting data, potentially enabling brokers to preemptively avoid collecting data on individuals who have filed deletion requests—a privacy benefit not explicitly stated in the title.
• Annual fees paid by data brokers to the FTC (capped at 1% of system operating costs) create a dedicated funding stream for FTC enforcement and system maintenance, reducing reliance on general appropriations and potentially strengthening long-term enforcement capacity.
• The bill's preemption clause allows state laws that provide GREATER protection than the federal baseline, preserving state-level privacy innovations and creating a floor rather than a ceiling—unusual for federal preemption and favorable to privacy advocates.
• The credentialing-process requirement for data brokers may reduce the flow of personal information to downstream purchasers by requiring brokers to verify that recipients will use data only for disclosed purposes, indirectly constraining data monetization.
• Exclusions for human subjects research, legal compliance, and certain activities (fraud prevention, news gathering, credit reporting) create carve-outs that may limit deletion rights in contexts where individuals have legitimate privacy interests but brokers claim legal necessity.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Ordinary citizens gain a concrete, enforceable right to delete their personal information across all data brokers through a single request, addressing a major asymmetry in data collection power. The centralized system with hashed registries protects privacy during the deletion process while ensuring compliance, and the FTC's enforcement authority provides teeth to the requirement.

Named in the bill

Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Data brokers (unnamed sector), Individuals/consumers

Where it stands

• Apr 2, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Apr 2, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

2 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,045,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 13 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.

Lori Trahan, the sponsor, reported $869,250 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Experian North America — $845,000 on 2 filings
• Transamerica Companies — $200,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.