Maine Rejects Comprehensive Data Privacy Law, Again

A proposal to create a comprehensive data privacy law in Maine was unable to recover after sizable business pushback led several Democrats to join Republicans in opposition, marking the second Legislature that has failed to get such a plan over the finish line.

The Maine House of Representatives cast the decisive vote Thursday night after the legislation bounced back and forth between the lower chamber and the Senate multiple times in recent weeks.

The initial vote signaled promise for passage. Then came a floor amendment to exempt political organizations that was ultimately shut down after it drew the ire of several in the Democratic majority, including Gov. Janet Mills. With that exemption removed, a favorable vote signaled a potential turn, however that was short lived when businesses turned out en masse to say the proposal would make it harder for them to reach customers.

Businesses argued the bill, LD 1822, could limit their ability to do targeted advertising, meaning customized ads aimed at specific consumers based on their search history, location and other personal data.

“How do we know that these apocalyptic scenarios will not play out here in Maine?” bill sponsor Rep. Amy Kuhn (D-Falmouth) said on the floor. “It’s because they have not happened anywhere else that has a strong data minimization standard.”

Fear of the unknown toll on businesses again likely to sink data privacy bill

Kuhn’s bill relies on that standard, which broadly means limiting the collection of personal information to only what is necessary to fulfill the consumer service. That’s also the standard used in a similar Maryland law that took effect in October. Businesses there haven’t yet seen limitations on their ability to do targeted advertising.

“I just feel like it’s really rich that there are people who are sitting in our seats who are not business owners,” Rep. Elizabeth Caruso (R-Caratunk) said on the floor, “and yet we are claiming we know better.”

Ultimately, fear of the unknown prevailed in Maine, a seed planted long before this year.

LD 1822 was the top lobbied bill last year, following patterns of outsized efforts to influence the issue in 2024, all of which mirror sizable lobbying from Big Tech companies on these types of measures across the country.

That’s resulted in an industry-favored version being adopted in most states so far. That model uses what’s referred to as an opt-in model, allowing companies to collect data as long as consumers agree to it.

Rep. Rachel Henderson (R-Rumford) had proposed that version last year, but lawmakers opted to pursue Kuhn’s stricter plan instead. Earlier iterations of both also failed during the last Legislature.

“The sad reality is that although I have debated and fought really hard to see this bill not make its way through the Legislature,” Henderson said of Kuhn’s version, “when the bill dies tonight, we still walk out of here without a privacy policy.”