To improve the safety and security of Members of Congress, immediate family members of Members of Congress, and congressional staff, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill creates a comprehensive privacy protection system for Members of Congress, their families, and designated congressional staff. It requires government agencies, data brokers, and private businesses to remove or refrain from publishing sensitive personal information (like home addresses, phone numbers, and license plates) upon request from these protected individuals.
Who Benefits and How
Members of Congress, their families, and staff benefit by gaining the legal right to have their personal information removed from public records and websites within 72 hours of request. This protects them from stalking, harassment, and potential threats. The Sergeant at Arms offices of both chambers gain authority to make bulk requests on behalf of Members and staff, streamlining the protection process.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Data brokers face a complete prohibition on selling, licensing, or trading the covered information of U.S. persons - they cannot even purchase it. Businesses and websites must remove covered information within 72 hours of receiving a written request and cannot transfer it to others. Government agencies must mark protected information as private and remove it from public-facing content upon request.
Key Provisions
- At-risk individuals can request removal of their covered information from any government agency within 72 hours
- Data brokers are prohibited from selling, licensing, trading, or purchasing covered information
- Private businesses must remove covered information from websites and cannot transfer it after receiving a request
- The Attorney General or state attorneys general can bring enforcement actions against data brokers
- First Amendment exceptions exist for news reporting on matters of public concern
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Protects personal information (home addresses, phone numbers, SSNs, etc.) of Members of Congress, their family members, and designated congressional staff from public disclosure by government agencies, data brokers, and private entities.
Key Policy Areas
Privacy, Government Operations, Congressional Affairs, Data Protection
Primary Purpose
Protects personal information (home addresses, phone numbers, SSNs, etc.) of Members of Congress, their family members, and designated congressional staff from public disclosure by government agencies, data brokers, and private entities.
Policy Domains
Section 2 - Protecting covered information in public records
Identified Gains
- Members of Congress
- Congressional staff
- Families of Members of Congress
- Former Members of Congress
Identified Costs
- Data brokers
- People search websites
- Government agencies
- Businesses maintaining personal information databases
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Wyden introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Designated congressional staff (Senate and House employees), Federal government agencies, Former Members of Congress
Positive-direction: Designated congressional staff (Senate and House employees), Former Members of Congress
Negative-direction: Federal government agencies
Data brokers and people-search websites
Websites and online businesses maintaining personal information databases
News media organizations reporting on public officials
Financial institutions subject to Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "attorney_general"
- → U.S. Attorney General
- "state_attorney_general"
- → State attorneys general
- "applicable_legislative_officers"
- → Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of Senate with Secretary of Senate (for Senate); Sergeant at Arms and Chief Administrative Officer of House (for House)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
For Senate: Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper with Secretary of Senate, acting jointly. For House: Sergeant at Arms and Chief Administrative Officer, acting jointly.
Members of Congress, their spouses, parents, siblings, children, those in loco parentis, household members, designated Senate/House employees, and former Members of Congress.
Home addresses, phone numbers, personal email, SSN, driver's license number, bank/credit card numbers, license plates, children's info, school/daycare info, commute routes, and geolocation data - excludes FEC filings and required candidate disclosures.
A commercial entity collecting personal information on non-customers to sell or profit from third-party access - excludes news gathering, 411 services, internal use, health/safety alerts, credit agencies, GLBA-covered institutions, and HIPAA-covered entities.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology