About the bill
Is this bill a smart idea, or should you watch out?
Context
Wearable devices, most prominently smartwatches and step counters, have soared in popularity over recent years. Their sales even rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, at the same time as spending on many other categories of consumer goods and services plunged.
The Apple Watch, by far the most popular such device, can record personal data including menstrual cycles, sleep patterns, and heart rate.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, more commonly known as HIPAA, protects the privacy of all patient-doctor interactions under federal law. But technology, as it usually does, moves faster than the law. Since a smartwatch isn’t a doctor or physician, the health data stored with it is not protected under federal …
Sponsor and status
117th Congress (2021–2023)
This bill was introduced on March 1, 2021, in a previous session of Congress, but it did not receive a vote.
Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. It is common for legislative text to be introduced concurrently in multiple bills (called companion bills), re-introduced in subsequent sessions of Congress in new bills, or added to larger bills (sometimes called omnibus bills).
1 Cosponsor (1 Democrat)
Position statements
What legislators are saying
“Durbin, Grassley Press Twitter CEO on Reports of Security Failures and Foreign Infiltration at Twitter”
—
Sen. Richard Durbin [D-IL]
on Sep 13, 2022
“Congressman Horsford Secures Over $7.3 Million for Health Care, Safety, Jobs, and Community Well-Being Across Nevadas Fourth District”
—
Rep. Steven Horsford [D-NV4]
on Jul 29, 2021
“Padillas First 100 Days: Key Moments”
—
Sen. Alejandro “Alex” Padilla [D-CA]
on Apr 29, 2021
History
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Nov 18, 2019
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Earlier Version —
Introduced
This activity took place on a related bill, S. 2885 (116th). |
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Mar 1, 2021
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Introduced
Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. |
S. 500 (117th) was a bill in the United States Congress.
A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.
Bills numbers restart every two years. That means there are other bills with the number S. 500. This is the one from the 117th Congress.
This bill was introduced in the 117th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2021 to Jan 3, 2023. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books.
How to cite this information.
We recommend the following MLA-formatted citation when using the information you see here in academic work:
“S. 500 — 117th Congress: SMARTWATCH Data Act.” www.GovTrack.us. 2021. September 27, 2023 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/s500>
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Where is this information from?
GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.
