Arkansas Proposes RFID Legislation
As of this month, the state of Arkansas has joined the roughly two dozen other US states with legislation passed or pending relating to RFID technology. As per the classifications broken down earlier in this blog, Arkansas' SB 846 fits squarely in the Study Committee/Task Force type of legislation.
At this point, the bill is not very detailed; it simply spells out where the seventeen members of the Legislative Task Force on RFID Technology should be drawn from, and assigns them these duties:
10-3-2403. Duties.
The duties of the Legislative Task Force on RFID Technology are to:
(1) Study the privacy issues surrounding the usages and application of RFID technology in the state;
(2) Study whether controls should be placed on RFID technology to protect the privacy interests of residents of the state; and
(3) Propose legislation to effectuate the findings of the study.
10-3-2404. Report.
On or before December 15, 2008, the Legislative Task Force on RFID Technology shall submit a report of its findings and any recommended legislation to the Governor and the Legislative Council.
It is important that policy-makers stay educated on these issues, hopefully the task force will not focus on potential abuses of RFID technology, but rather focus on the positive uses of RFID in government and the private sector. It's chances like these that the RFID industry has to inform lawmakers on the realities of the technology, and to avoid regulation that could be harmful to the growth of the industry.