On 18 June 2023, the Governor of Texas signed into law the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA), making it the 12th state overall in the United States, and seventh in 2023 alone, to enact a comprehensive privacy law.(1) With approximately 30 million inhabitants, Texas is the second-most populous state (behind only California) to pass a privacy law of this scope and magnitude. The TDPSA will take effect on 1 July 2024, giving companies that fall within its scope approximately a year to ensure their data collection practices comply with the law.

The TDPSA is comparable in certain respects to Virginia’s Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) and other state privacy laws following a similar model, but deviates in certain key areas, as noted below. More generally, the TDPSA and other state privacy laws significantly align with the blueprint of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a model which continues to proliferate worldwide.