Days after passing comprehensive artificial intelligence regulations, the Connecticut House of Representatives overwhelmingly backed a companion bill strengthening the state’s consumer data privacy protections, sending the bill to the governor’s desk. 

As its first item of the day, the House voted 141-6 to pass Senate Bill 4, a measure that establishes restrictions on how data brokers can use consumer information, gives consumers the ability to pull their personal information off the internet and grants protections over individual genetic and personal data. 

The bill builds off the Connecticut Data Privacy Act, a 2023 law that outlines consumer data rights and the responsibilities of groups that collect online data. Connecticut was the fifth state in the country to pass a comprehensive privacy law, a growing area of state policymaking amid stalled federal efforts to set policy around data privacy and consumer protection.

“Today we’re considering legislation that meets a very simple expectation from the people that we serve: that they should have real control over their personal information in a world where personal data is constantly collected, bought, sold and used in ways that they cannot even imagine,” said Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, co-chair of the General Law Committee, as discussion of the bill started.

S.B. 4 explicitly outlines regulations for data brokers, defined in the bill as a “business that sells or licenses brokered personal data to another person.” 

In addition to creating a registry for these brokers, and implementing new mandatory fees for the registry, the bill also charges the state Department of Consumer Protection with creating a deletion mechanism that would let people remove their personal data from broker databases and websites. The bill also calls for reducing  the volume of advertisements that run on streaming services, and contains regulations on the uses of geolocation data, facial recognition technology and surveillance pricing tools, which are used to generate individualized prices based on an individual’s personal information. 

S.B. 4, like the artificial intelligence bill Senate Bill 5, had been marked as a priority bill earlier in the session as it was drafted by the General Law Committee. The bill maintained that standing as it moved through the legislature, passing the Senate in a 31-4 vote last week. And as the end of the session approaches, leaders of the House said that the bill was at the top of a massive pile of remaining legislation.

For the bill’s proponents, the data privacy protections, while not as controversial among lawmakers as this year’s AI bill, are equally important. 

“They are two different pieces of legislation,” said Rep. Hubert Delany, D-Stamford, co-chair of the legislature’s AI Caucus, which was formed in 2025 and has focused on both Senate Bill 4 and Senate Bill 5 this year. “But they are part of a singular initiative to create a standard, a strong foundation for preparing Connecticut for the future and present.”

A balance between consumer protections and business needs

Nationally, concerns over data privacy have grown in recent years as artificial intelligence technology advances, with several states stepping in to outline consumer protections and define what actions are and are not allowed by businesses and other groups that interact with consumer data.

S.B. 4, however, focuses on the groups that buy and sell personal data, opting to target new regulation to specific groups rather than creating broadly applied protections. This decision, proponents argue, will keep the bill from impacting small business owners, healthcare providers, and financial organizations who regularly interact with consumer data. 

But the bill still raised concern from some technology and business advocacy groups earlier in the session, with some arguing that despite the bill’s good intentions, regulation would have a negative impact on businesses. Advocates specifically argued that by limiting the information that can be accessed about consumers, business marketing and risk detection efforts could be hampered. 

The original version of the bill had been criticized by a range of national and local groups including the Computer & Communications Industry Association and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.

The bill was later amended in the hopes of addressing those concerns, with the bill’s lead author, General Law Committee co-Chair Sen. James Maroney, D-Milford, saying last week that the goal is to protect state residents. 

“We are balancing the interests of industry and consumers,” Maroney, who serves alongside Delany as a co-chair of the AI Caucus, said as the bill was discussed in the Senate. “We are elected by consumers to represent them and their interests.”

In the Senate, the bill had faced hours of debate from lawmakers who weren’t convinced of the stability of that balancing effort. But the bill moved much faster in the House, with a handful of Republican legislators rising to ask questions before the vote occurred. The entire process took less than an hour. 

Legislators complete next portion of technology agenda

With S.B. 4’s passage, lawmakers say that they have completed the second key component of state Democrats’ technology policy agenda. From the beginning of the session, legislators have said they would focus on online safety, AI and data privacy in an effort to protect residents’ information, create safeguards around the social media use of minors, and outline positive ways to interact with emerging technologies.

When taken together, Senate Bill 4 and Senate Bill 5 address these topics in a number of ways, ranging from AI chatbot protections, to workforce development programs, and data privacy supports that intentionally center consumers. 

It’s an effort that has taken years to complete. The state’s data privacy act was passed in 2022, but artificial intelligence regulations have been harder to accomplish, with the governor, Senate, and House having different approaches to the legislation that have caused AI proposals to fail in prior years. 

But lawmakers have continued to push for passage. In 2025, the bipartisan AI Caucus was established, with Maroney and Delany both leading the effort to garner support for AI-related legislation in their respective chambers. 

And this session with the rapid advancement of technology continuing, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said that the legislature could no longer wait to act. Lamont has already said that he would sign S.B. 5, and S.B. 4 is also expected to be signed by the governor. 

In recent years, state lawmakers have argued that despite concerns that new legislation would add to a growing patchwork of state artificial intelligence and data privacy regulations, action is needed as the federal government has struggled to advance a national standard.

And with its legislation, Connecticut has now become one of a growing number of states that has advanced both comprehensive artificial intelligence and comprehensive data privacy regulations. 

“We are working together as a state to ensure that all residents have the tools they need to flourish in the AI age,” Maroney said in a statement released Friday evening. 

Senate Bill 4 now heads to the desk of Gov. Ned Lamont.