There isn’t a country-wide privacy law in the U.S., much to the chagrin of states and American businesses that thrive on clarity. While frameworks like GovRAMP exist, they aren’t enforced by the government and serve more as a blueprint than a law. Now, however, state-level privacy regulation has begun to fill the gap.

With multiple state privacy laws taking effect or expanding at the start of the year, privacy is now an operational, security, and governance issue that directly affects how organizations collect, store, share, and protect data. For many businesses, 2026 marks the year when privacy compliance becomes just another cost of doing business.