The legislation, which was championed by ATA, now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law
Washington — The American Trucking Associations welcomed congressional approval of the Moving Americans Privacy Protection Act, bipartisan legislation that will 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 ATA-endorsed bill, which passed the Senate today and passed the House earlier this month, was co-authored by Representatives Mike Waltz (R-Florida) and Bill Pascrell (D-New Jersey). Senators Steve Daines (R-Montana) and Gary Peters (D-Michigan) sponsored the Senate companion bill. The legislation will become law upon receiving President Biden’s signature.
“Conventional political wisdom says not much gets done on Capitol Hill during an election year. We simply don’t accept that. Our industry works hard every day to deliver for the American people, and we expect Congress to do the same,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. “The passage of this significant piece of legislation is proof that even in the most difficult legislative environments, ATA is still moving bills into law.
“We are grateful for our congressional champions on this bill—Representatives Waltz and Pascrell and Senators Daines and Peters—who kept their foot on the gas until the personal data of military families and other Americans was protected,” Spear said. “With 2024 well underway, we will not stop advocating for commonsense legislative solutions that will strengthen our supply chain.”
“I want to thank Senators Daines and Peters, Representatives Waltz and Pascrell, and the others in Congress who have worked for many years to get this legislation passed,” said Bill Lovejoy, chairman of ATA’s Moving & Storage Conference and president of Republic Moving & Storage. “This isn’t just a win for the moving industry; it’s also a win for the American servicemembers and others who shouldn’t be at greater risk of identity theft simply because they moved back to the United States.”
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 Customs and Border Protection (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 will protect the privacy of tens of thousands of Americans by requiring CBP to scrub Americans' personal data from manifests before making trade data available for sale.
