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D.C. committee hears wide support — and implementation concerns — for personal health data bill
Summary
Privacy advocates, the attorney general's office and some consumer groups urged strong protections in B26‑0525, including a ban on geofencing and tighter deletion timelines; industry witnesses urged narrow exemptions (HIPAA, FCRA/GLBA) and clearer definitions to avoid creating a D.C. outlier.
The D.C. Council Committee on Health on March 23 heard competing views about B26‑0525, the Personal Health Data Security Amendment Act of 2025, a bill that would regulate collection, sale and use of personal health data in the District.
Chair Christina Henderson outlined the bill as granting residents the right to confirm whether personal health data is collected and to request deletion, banning geofencing around health‑care locations and requiring controllers to publish clear privacy policies and obtain consent before collecting or sharing data.
Privacy and civil‑liberties groups told the committee the bill is a necessary step. "Prohibiting geofencing will prevent further tracking and targeting of individuals based on their location alone," Melissa Wasser, senior policy counsel at ACLU‑DC, said, urging the committee to shorten the bill's deletion timeline from 183 days to 45 days to match other states. Sarah Gagan of the Electronic Privacy…
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