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By Samantha Young, Stephens Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — A House committee Thursday approved a bill that would create a commission and give it 18 months to study the broad and sensitive issue of personal privacy.

The proposal, sponsored by Reps. Asa Hutchinson, R-Fort Smith, and James Moran, D-Va., aims at the growing concern of consumers troubled about the dissemination of personal information, such as medical and banking records, Social Security numbers, magazine subscription information and Internet purchase tracking data.

"This legislation is unique in that it recognizes that the privacy debate is not limited to one industry or one sphere of life," Hutchinson said. "Indeed all of these various sectors are hopelessly interwoven and therefore the bill rejects the piecemeal approach offered in the other proposals."

The House Government Reform Committee passed the bill on a voice vote with little opposition. The bill has received support of the Republican leadership and also Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., who chairs the Senate committee that will handle the legislation if it passes the House.

Opponents of the measure, including several members of the congressional privacy caucus, say Hutchinson's commission would duplicate existing studies and delay substantive reform.

"The bill has raised concerns among state and federal officials and consumer advocates and other privacy experts who have been focused on privacy protection initiatives," Waxman said. "The problem that we face is that there is a pressing need for privacy protection in several important areas, a need that has already been studied, discussed, examined, and reexamined."

The committee added language to the bill that states study by the commission should not be prerequisite for enactment of financial or medical privacy legislation.

Although the new provision was meant to satisfy concerns the bill will hold up other legislation, it still drew criticism from consumer organizations and Waxman, who voted against it.

"I don't see how that can solve the problem," said Gregory Nojeim, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "The problem is the proven violations in the financial services area in particular that have been well documented and subject of numerous congressional hearings and the solutions to the problems have been put into legislative language.

"Instead of holding hearings on them and moving them through we have more study proposed," Nojeim said.

Hutchinson introduced the bill in March and its passage out of committee Thursday is considered to be a sign of its support. However the bill has undergone some revisions since in the past few months.

The latest draft doubles the commission funding from $2.5 million to $5 million, cuts in half the number of public meetings from 20 to 10, gives the panel subpoena power and encourages that the 17 appointed members have experience and expertise in privacy matters.

Most of the changes came from Democrats and were supported by Hutchinson. However the Arkansas lawmaker did rebuff an attempt by Waxman to insert language into the bill that would have mandated Congress pass privacy regulations during the life of the privacy commission.

Commission members would be selected by the president and congressional leadership. After 18 months, they would be required to issue a report on whether legislation is needed to address privacy concerns.

Hutchinson said he expected the House to vote on his bill after the July recess.