OH NO! 28 State AGs Just Weighed in on the FCC’s NPRM and a Certain Founder of our Nation is Grumpy About It…

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Where did these guys come from?

Just when it looked like R.E.A.C.H. had wrestled NCLC and PK to the ground and was well positioned to claim victory in the pending FCC NPRM proceeding, a pack of Attorneys General came out of nowhere to support the bulk of PK’s position.

Indeed, their comment is very aggressive–AND VERY EXTREME:

the Commission’s rules should not be amended to permit web-based consent from one consumer to apply to multiple sellers, even sellers of logically or topically related services.

Eep.

Now let me just pause here for a moment. I really don’t like it that an executive agency ENFORCEMENT outfit–like an AG–is weighing on a policy debate before an independent agency leveraging legislative power.

When the police tell lawmakers what the law should be you’re generally in really big trouble.

Don’t believe me? How about this guy:

A very intense Madison helped found this country.

He wrote in something called the Federalist Papers–something to do with founding a country or the like-that when the folks who enforce the law start writing the law you’re in for the “very definition of tyranny.”

I guess that’s my polite way to say– if you’re in the business of bringing enforcement actions probably don’t weigh in on policy debates. Your job is to FAITHFULLY EXECUTE the laws–NOT to write them.

Regardless, the AGs seem to want to put more than just a thumb on the scale here, telling the Commission it needs to impose E-SIGN act requirements on lead generators and limit consents to one to one ONLY.

I will say, I don’t think the AGs have standing to reply since I am pretty sure they did not comment to begin with. But that probably won’t stop the FCC from weighing their words–special treatment?– which should send a chill down everyone’s spine.

Make no mistake, I love the AGs and when they go after bad guys it makes me happy as a clam. Indeed, we NEED strong regulatory enforcement of CLEAR rules that help delineate the good actors from the bad. But I just get very uneasy when executive branchers start weighing in on policy decisions. Like really really uneasy.

You can read the entire comment here:  AG Comment

We will keep a very close eye on this.

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Published by Eric J. Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

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