ST. PAUL – State Rep. Eric Lucero is chief author of HF 1507, a bill seeking to enhance protection requirements of student private data and re-empower parents with authority over their children’s private data. Rep. Lucero’s student data privacy bill was heard in the House Civil Law Committee this week and cleared the committee with a unanimous vote in favor sending the bill to the House Education Innovation Policy Committee.
“Technology innovations and the use of technology in the classroom has greatly expanded the ability of technology providers and companies to collect, store, data mine, and share our student’s private data leaving our children's Personally Identifiable Information (PII) vulnerable and at risk of unauthorized access and use,” Lucero said. “The law is not keeping up with technology and my bill HF 1507 seeks to increase protections and return parental authority over their children's private data.”
Education/Technology statutes in Minnesota date back to the 1980s and there have been very few updates to the law since that time. Rep. Lucero is a cyber security professional and has been working on digital data privacy issues since first elected to office.
“Cyber security and protecting parental authority over their children’s private data is not a partisan issue,” Lucero said. “Thank you to the broad, bipartisan coalition of partners including Minnesota Advocates and Champions for Children, ACLU of Minnesota, parents, and citizen activists who've collectively invested more than 1,000 hours of their personal time fighting to protect our children's data.”
The next step in the process is a hearing in House Education Innovation Policy Committee which Rep. Lucero is hopeful can be scheduled soon to continue advancing the bill.