Rep. Hatfield part of national study of potential legislative responses to data breaches

INDIANAPOLIS – State Rep. Ryan Hatfield (D-Evansville) has been selected to serve on a national commission designed to encourage uniformity in laws across the country, with an initial assignment of examining potential responses to the problems created by breaches in personal data.

Hatfield recently was appointed to the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), and has been additionally selected to the group’s new Study Committee on Data Breach Notification.

The ULC, established in 1892, is designed to provide states with non-partisan legislation that attempts to bring clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law. To serve on the commission, a member must be qualified to practice law. The more than 300 law commissioners include legislators, judges, and law professors.

“The value of an organization such as this is to try and find a common response to many of the problems that face our states,” Hatfield said.

“In that light, you can certainly say that finding ways to answer the rising tide of personal data breaches that are taking place across this country is something that demands a unified approach toward a common solution,” he continued. “These breaches are affecting millions of Americans, and it would seem to make sense that we should work together to find ways that protect us all from identity thieves.”