Federal vs. State: Untangling the U.S. Data Privacy Web
By Jim Pierce, Founder of Envoy of Efficiency Introduction: The Challenge of Two Systems When I speak with business leaders about compliance, one of the first questions I hear is this: “Do we follow federal rules, or do we follow state rules?” The honest answer is both. That is the complexity of data privacy in the United States. Unlike Europe, which created a single regulation for the entire union, the United States chose a layered approach. We have federal laws that apply to industries like healthcare, finance, education, and online services for children. At the same time, states are passing their own laws that apply to residents in those states. This means a business must pay attention to both levels at once. For small and mid-sized companies, this can feel overwhelming. I know because I have seen leaders freeze when faced with the question of which rules take priority. My goal in this article is to make this complexity clearer and to show a path forward. The Federal Ba...