Montana bill would expand consumer data rights, tighten some financial exemptions

Sen. Daniel Zolnicov, sponsor of Senate Bill 297, told the House Judiciary Committee that the measure would amend the state’s consumer data privacy law to clarify coverage, expand protections for minors and address perceived loopholes used by some financial-sector entities.

Zolnicov said the original Montana Consumer Data Protection Act, effective Oct. 1, 2024, created consumer rights such as access, correction and deletion, and allowed a universal opt‑out mechanism for targeted advertising. SB 297 would refine definitions, extend certain protections to people under 18 (rather than stopping at 13), tighten exemptions for entities affiliated with federally regulated financial institutions, and lower the applicability threshold to businesses with 25,000 consumers or those that derive at least 25% of profits from sale of personal data.

Zolnicov framed the bill as harmonizing Montana’s law with other states and closing loopholes that allowed entities to claim exemptions inappropriately. “Data is you. AI is just data,” Zolnicov said, arguing that strong consumer privacy laws underpin responsible AI use.

Industry witnesses described narrow stances and technical concerns. Sarah Clerget of the American Council of Life Insurers said insurers supported an amendment to exempt certain insurers already covered by federal Gramm‑Leach‑Bliley Act obligations and that the sponsor had worked with them on a technical fix. Bruce Spencer, representing insurance trade groups, said insurance privacy protections in state insurance code differ from general privacy rules and urged the committee to adopt the insurance exemption amendment.

Eric Rosenkatter of the Receivables Management Association International opposed the bill as drafted on the ground that it would remove GLBA-based exemptions for nonbank financial institutions and could create compliance confusion for businesses that handle primarily GLBA‑exempt data. He urged retaining the existing GLBA exemptions.

Zolnicov said he had modeled many provisions on other states, lowered the size threshold to reflect Montana’s smaller population, and resisted removing core consumer rights. Supporters and opponents both said they had worked with the sponsor on specific language. The committee did not vote on the bill; testimony included support for an insurer exemption amendment that the sponsor said he had accepted in negotiations.