On April 22, 2026, House Republicans announced the introduction of the SECURE Data Act (“SECURE”), a comprehensive, preemptive federal privacy bill designed to end the state "patchwork" era of regulation by establishing a single national standard. If enacted, SECURE would take effect 2 years after the enactment date, except that the obligations described in the Consumer Rights, Data Security, and Data Broker sections would take effect 1 year after the enactment date.

For the advertising industry, this represents the most significant legislative opportunities in years, moving beyond the compromise-heavy framework of past proposals like the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA).