My Health My Data (HB 1155) safeguards Washington residents’ personal medical data and prevents it from being sold to bounty hunters, data brokers, and law enforcement. Pro-Choice Washington, Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates; Gender Justice League, Legal Voice, and ACLU of Washington all support this bill. The original version of the bill was very strong, but industry lobbyists convinced the House Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee to replace it with a watered-down substitute. A House floor amendment weakened it further by making it harder for to sue companies that break the law!
Still, even in its weakened, watered-down state, the current version of the bill (ESHB 1155) is a basis to build on. At the Senate Law & Justice hearing on Tuesday, March 14, advocates testified about the need for these long-overdue protections, and suggested was to strengthen it to restore the original protections;. Industry lobbyists suggested watering it down even more. The Law & Justice committee is expected to advance a new version, perhaps as early as March 22. We’ll see what happens!
If you’d like to help us convince legislators to strengthen the bill, please fill out this short survey here. You can stay completely anonymous if you want, or leave an email address if you want us to follow up … either way, we want to hear what you have to say!