Despite McMorris Rodgers’ claim that the new, nationwide privacy standard will be “stronger than any state,” preempting state laws is likely to provoke opposition, especially from California, which enacted a pioneering data privacy law in 2018. Cantwell said the bill incorporates parts of state laws, including California’s and Illinois laws protecting genetic and biometric data, to set a national standard that builds on the progress made by those states. Neither Pallone nor Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Cantwell’s GOP counterpart on the Senate Commerce Committee, were directly involved in negotiating the deal, which caught data privacy experts by surprise when Punchbowl News reported on Friday that McMorris Rodgers and Cantwell had written legislation.