Following the trend towards comprehensive state consumer data privacy laws over the past half decade, five more states—New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Maryland—have passed their own such laws since the beginning of this year alone. Joining the ranks of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia, these five states bring the total number of states with comprehensive state privacy laws to 17 (or 19, if you count more narrowly scoped privacy laws in Florida and Nevada), a near 50% increase in states with comprehensive privacy laws in only five months. New Jersey led the charge at the beginning of 2024, with Governor Phil Murphy signing the New Jersey Privacy Act (NJPA) on January 16. Next followed New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu’s signature on SB 255 (acronym surely soon to follow). Kentucky (KCDPA) and Nebraska (NDPA) were next, signing laws on April 4 and 17, respectively, and Maryland rounded out this wave of privacy legislation when Governor Wes Moore signed the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act of 2024 (MODPA) into law on May 9.Continue Reading Five State Privacy Laws in Five Months