SB 1356, An Act Concerning Data Privacy, Online Monitoring, Social Media And Data Brokers

TESTIMONY OF THE CONNECTICUT HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION
SUBMITTED TO THE GENERAL LAW COMMITTEE

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

The Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) appreciates this opportunity to submit testimony concerning SB 1356, An Act Concerning Data Privacy, Online Monitoring, Social Media And Data Brokers. CHA opposes the bill.

Connecticut hospitals and health systems care for patients, strengthen the state’s economy, and support vulnerable communities across the state. Every day, they work to improve healthcare access, affordability, and health equity. Even as they face ongoing challenges, hospitals provide world-class care to everyone who walks through their doors, regardless of their ability to pay. Hospitals also support an exemplary workforce as the largest collective employer in the state, contribute significantly to the state’s economy, and invest in their communities addressing social drivers of health.

SB 1356 seeks to revise existing data privacy laws, including language that significantly undermines language in the 2022 consumer data privacy and security bill that became PA 22-15 (later codified as Chapter 743jj).

CHA supported PA 22-15 as the bill’s language incorporated critical exemptions for HIPAA entities and nonprofits (as well as other highly regulated industries). Throughout the discussions on PA 22-15 CHA supported those exemptions as they are vital to avoiding unintended consequences in the movement of, and legitimate uses of, consumer data. These exemptions should not be removed as the reasons for their inclusion have not changed.

These revisions, found at lines 265-270, eliminate critical entity-level exemptions for nonprofits and HIPAA covered entities and their business associates. Without these exemptions, there will be a negative impact on efforts to identify and address social influencers of health, examine population health, and solve for myriad health disparities; and it will make assisting underserved communities harder.

CHA cannot support changes that will make it harder to provide communities with housing assistance, put diapers in the hands of families that need them, or that interfere with the work of food banks and other support systems for disadvantaged populations and communities. It is particularly unwise to add regulatory burdens to community systems that help people in need at a time when many nonprofits and their community partners are struggling to keep their doors open while facing looming, widespread, and drastic cuts from the federal government that will impact care providers and community organizations.

We urge you to reject the provisions of the bill removing critical exemptions affecting nonprofits and HIPAA entities.

Thank you for your consideration of our position. For additional information, contact CHA Government Relations at (203) 294-7301.