Cybersecurity Bill Could Resurface in Senate, If Timing Allows

As Congress returns to Capitol Hill, lawmakers will continue work on issues important to techies, mainly cybersecurity and patent legislation. But actual resolutions may not be forthcoming in 2015. Cybersecurity has stalled once already. Shortly before the August recess, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) brought the measure, The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S 754), to the floor but pulled it when disagreements on privacy got sticky.

The legislation would encourage private companies to share their data with federal agencies when there is a cyberthreat indicator. Senate leaders punted and set some terms for the measure to be debated later in the fall after privacy advocates raised concerns that the bill would expose sensitive personal data. The chamber’s leadership struck a deal on 22 amendments but reached no agreement on how long each one would be debated. Nor did they determine a vote threshold for any of them. That means the bill can easily come to the floor in the fall, but it might take some time once it’s there. A Senate Democratic aide said it appears unlikely the measure will come up in September since the past two efforts to pass it have shown that members want a full debate rather than rushing it through to meet an arbitrary deadline.