A Data Broker Bill (HB 262) is active in the Delaware General Assembly, and it deserves your attention. While it is good business practice to make customers aware of data collection, sales, and use practices, it is difficult to describe these policies easily since the laws and policies that regulate many data sets are complicated. Sensitive financial and health information is heavily regulated. Missing from this proposal is the demand of state and local governments to do what most in the private sector have already done. In a government setting, people are compelled to provide data to obtain a license to drive, practice law, fish, or cut hair. You are compelled to provide that personal information, or you don’t receive the state authority to drive, work or engage in recreation. This is a much different experience in the private sector. If you don’t like the data practices of one retailer, pizza shop, or cell phone provider, you have options to go elsewhere.

This bill presents many challenges, including the requirement for every business that sells data to pay a fee and register with the State. I’ve been around these issues for decades and the argument for enacting proposals like this are the same. However, consumers are quite savvy, and the great majority are privacy pragmatists. They “vote with their pocketbook” and abandon businesses that don’t manage data responsibly. Yes, breaches happen but the actual measurement of harm is quite low. Enforcement agencies need to show evidence of repeated failures and the results of their efforts to crack down on bad actors – including public sector agencies and departments who have antiquated systems and are the largest collector of personal information in this state and country.

The food and agriculture industries continue to add jobs, provide safe food, and feed the US economy. Together, these industries are responsible for roughly one-fifth of the country’s economic activity, directly supporting nearly 21.5 million jobs or more than 14% of U.S. employment. Delaware businesses are involved in every step of the food supply chain, with the state's many farms, distribution centers, food science research facilities, and food retail locations contributing to the process. Here's a quick look at the food and agriculture industry's impact on the First State:

The week’s economic news gets started on Tuesday with the Case-Shiller national housing price index and its results for January. February job openings and “quits” data are also available Tuesday morning. Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker speaks later in the morning. On Wednesday, the ADP employment report for March is released. Thursday is the busiest day with jobless claims data, personal income and real disposable income and real consumer spending numbers for February too. We wrap up the week on Friday with March unemployment figures, labor force participation rates for ages 25-54, February construction spending results and March motor vehicle sales.

Companies with earnings calls include Dave & Buster’s Entertainment on Monday, and Lululemon Athletica, Micron Technology, Chewy, McCormick, and Solo Brands on Tuesday. BioNTech, Five Below, Paychex, and UpHealth have calls Wednesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Blackberry, Data Storage, and Adverum Biotechnologies round out the remainder of the week.

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