Christian is based in our Washington, DC office and is a Senior Vice President of ML Strategies. He assists a variety of clients in their interactions with the federal government.

Prior to joining ML Strategies, Christian spent 20 years on Capitol Hill, the last 10 of which he served as senior counsel and subcommittee staff director on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. In so doing, he served under former chairs Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), and former Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL). In this capacity, his work focused on a broad range of issues, including consumer protection, privacy and data security, cybersecurity, automobile and highway safety, product safety, sports, manufacturing, exports, and trade, while regularly interacting with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the Department of Commerce.

Earlier, Christian held senior staff and advisory roles with the House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy & Commerce, where he worked on matters related to the FTC, NHTSA, CPSC, Department of Commerce, and EPA.

Christian also served as a senior legislative assistant to former Reps. Bobby L. Rush (D-IL) and Bill Luther (D-MN), advising each on Energy & Commerce Committee issues.

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Ethics and Artificial Intelligence

February 20, 2020 | Video | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld

Christian Fjeld, Vice President of ML Strategies, discusses the possibility of future legislation addressing ethical considerations surrounding artificial intelligence. Christian explains that it will most likely be the courts that determine parameters on AI ethics in society with decisions on individual cases.

February 7, 2020 | Blog | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Christopher Harvie, Cynthia Larose

Representative Kathy Castor (D-FL) has introduced the Protecting the Information of Our Vulnerable Children and Youth Act (PRIVCY ACT), which is a significant rewrite of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In so doing, the bill expands the scope of COPPA’s protections and creates new enforcement mechanisms. The children advocacy groups, Common Sense Media and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, have come out in public support of the bill, as has the privacy advocacy group, the Center for Digital Democracy.

February 5, 2020 | Blog

Artificial Intelligence is a growing part of our day-to-day life. And AI promises to improve our health care system. ML Strategies Vice President Christian Tomatsu Fjeld recently sat down with other experts for a panel discussion hosted by the San Francisco Business Times to discuss AI and some business and policy considerations across multiple industries. This viewpoint considers some of the impacts on health care specifically, and links out to the panel's discussion.

February 3, 2020 | Article | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld

Read the transcript of a San Francisco Business Times panel discussion on artificial intelligence, including ML Strategies Vice President Christian T. Fjeld’s insights on emerging regulatory issues.

January 29, 2020 | Blog | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Christopher Harvie, Cynthia Larose

The House is taking a different approach to drafting a federal privacy bill. On December 18, Democratic and Republican staff for the House Energy & Commerce Committee released a bipartisan staff draft for circulation. The “staff” in “staff draft” is key – the document does not necessarily reflect the policy positions of Members, particularly committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR).

January 28, 2020 | Blog | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Christopher Harvie, Cynthia Larose

As 2020 gets underway, Congress will continue to deliberate on federal privacy legislation in the second session of the 116th Congress. The California Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CCPA) went into effect on January 1, and the state will begin enforcing the law on July 1. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) is expected to release final regulations implementing CCPA within six months (although business certainly hopes sooner….).

December 12, 2019 | Article | By Joshua Briones, Russell Fox, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld

Mintz’s December TCPA Digest covers consensus robocall legislation passed by the House of Representatives, recent TCPA-related orders from the FCC, and court decisions allowing fraud claims to proceed against serial TCPA plaintiffs.

December 12, 2019 | Article | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld

Read about the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, consensus robocall legislation that passed in the House of Representative by a vote of 417-3.

August 21, 2019 | Alert | By Frank C. Guinta, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Stephen J. Silveira, R. Neal Martin

Read about infrastructure-related bills and measures before Congress, including the surface transportation and Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) reauthorizations.

August 12, 2019 | Blog | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Alexander Hecht

As August recess gets underway for the House and the Senate, ML Strategies has prepared a summary of the status of this summer’s key cybersecurity issues. ML Strategies will continue to track these and other cybersecurity priorities before Congress and the Administration through August and beyond.

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