House passes bill to protect repatriating Americans’ personal data

Today, the House of Representatives unanimously passed the Moving Americans Privacy Protection Act, legislation introduced by Representatives Mike Waltz (R-Florida) and Bill Pascrell (D-New Jersey).

At a time when identity theft and other privacy-related crimes are on the rise, this bipartisan bill would help protect the privacy and identity security of American servicemembers, federal employees, private sector workers, and their families who are returning to the United States after living abroad.

“The American Trucking Associations’ Moving & Storage Conference is proud to serve our military and other families when they return home to the United States. Our members handle both household items and personal information with care, which is why they have long advocated for Congress to make commonsense changes to disclosure requirements on shipping forms,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear.

“The House’s passage of Moving Americans Privacy Protection Act represents a major step forward to protect military families and other Americans relocating from overseas,” said ATA’s Moving & Storage Conference Executive Director Ryan Bowley. “We have strongly pushed for this legislation to help reduce repatriating Americans’ risk of having their identities stolen. We are grateful for Reps. Waltz and Pascrell’s leadership on this issue, and we will continue to work with Senator Daines and other champions on this issue to move this bill across the finish line to prevent unnecessary disclosures of Americans’ personal data.”

When relocating Americans ship their household goods back to the U.S., they must provide personal data on vessel manifests.

Currently, this personally identifiable information — such as Social Security numbers, passport numbers, home addresses, and more — can be included in trade data that CBP is required to collect and make available for sale to data brokers. This exposure puts Americans at risk of identity theft, financial fraud, and other crimes.

The Moving Americans Privacy Protection Act would protect the privacy of tens of thousands of Americans by requiring CBP to remove Americans' personal data before making trade data available for sale.

The Senate companion measure, sponsored by Senators Steve Daines (R-Montana), Gary Peters (D-Michigan), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), and Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan), passed the Senate earlier this Congress by unanimous consent. The House version of the bill now heads to the Senate for approval before being sent to the President’s desk to be signed into law.