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On its final vote, a strong comprehensive privacy bill failed to pass the Maine House of Representatives by five votes. The Maine Online Data Privacy Act, LD 1822, closely mirrored the privacy law Maryland passed in 2024 and would have extended essential privacy protections to Mainers.
The bill included strong data minimization requirements, enhanced protections for sensitive data, and civil rights protections prohibiting data-driven discrimination.
“The playbook that has been deployed here to defeat this bill, the most lobbied bill in this building year after year is designed to sow confusion, create delay, and draw legislators away from what is a critically important protection in the age of AI,” bill sponsor Representative Amy Kuhn said in her floor speech.
Data from the Maine Ethics Commission shows that Maine Online Data Privacy Act was the most heavily lobbied bill in Maine in 2026 and 2025, with four times as much spending as the state budget last year. EPIC has long tried to shine a light on the tech industry’s lobbying tactics in its push for so-called “privacy” laws that in reality do little to protect privacy.
EPIC testified in support of LD 1822, explaining how most existing state privacy laws fall short and the ways in which this bill protects Mainers’ privacy and encourages privacy-protective business practices. EPIC has been engaged in advocating for a strong data privacy law in Maine for many years.
“Maine has long been a leader in privacy protection,” said Caitriona Fitzgerald, Deputy Director at EPIC. “We hope legislators continue to work on this issue of critical importance to Mainers next session.”
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