Debt Collection Practices Harmonization Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2628 To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to extend the provisions of that Act to cover a debt collector who is collecting debt owed to a State or local government, to index award amounts under such Act for inflation, to provide for civil injunctive relief for violations of such Act, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 16, 2021 Mr. MEEKS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to extend the provisions of that Act to cover a debt collector who is collecting debt owed to a State or local government, to index award amounts under such Act for inflation, to provide for civil injunctive relief for violations of such Act, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Debt Collection Prac- 4 tices Harmonization Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2628.IH H2628 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2628 IH SEC. 2. PREVENTING DECEPTIVE AND HARASSING PRAC- 1 TICES WHEN COLLECTING DEBT OWED TO A 2 STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 3 Section 803(5) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices 4 Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a(5)) is amended— 5 (1) by striking ‘‘money arising out’’ and insert- 6 ing the following: ‘‘money— 7 ‘‘(A) arising out’’; 8 (2) by striking ‘‘judgment.’’ and inserting 9 ‘‘judgment; or’’; and 10 (3) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(B) owed to a State.’’. 12 SEC. 3. AWARD OF DAMAGES. 13 (a) ADDITIONAL DAMAGES INDEXED FOR INFLA- 14 TION.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 813 of the Fair 16 Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692k) is 17 amended by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(f) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.— 19 ‘‘(1) INITIAL ADJUSTMENT.—Not later than 90 20 days after the date of the enactment of this sub- 21 section, the Bureau shall provide a percentage in- 22 crease (rounded to the nearest multiple of $100 or 23 $1,000, as applicable) in the amounts set forth in 24 this section equal to the percentage by which— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2628.IH H2628 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2628 IH ‘‘(A) the Consumer Price Index for All 1 Urban Consumers (all items, United States city 2 average) for the 12-month period ending on the 3 June 30 preceding the date on which the per- 4 centage increase is provided, exceeds 5 ‘‘(B) the Consumer Price Index for the 12- 6 month period preceding January 1, 1978. 7 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL ADJUSTMENTS.—With respect to 8 any fiscal year beginning after the date of the in- 9 crease provided under paragraph (1), the Bureau 10 shall provide a percentage increase (rounded to the 11 nearest multiple of $100 or $1,000, as applicable) in 12 the amounts set forth in this section equal to the 13 percentage by which— 14 ‘‘(A) the Consumer Price Index for All 15 Urban Consumers (all items, United States city 16 average) for the 12-month period ending on the 17 June 30 preceding the beginning of the fiscal 18 year for which the increase is made, exceeds 19 ‘‘(B) the Consumer Price Index for the 12- 20 month period preceding the 12-month period 21 described in subparagraph (A).’’. 22 (2) APPLICABILITY.—The increases made under 23 section 813(f) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices 24 Act, as added by paragraph (1) of this subsection, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2628.IH H2628 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2628 IH shall apply with respect to failures to comply with a 1 provision of such Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) oc- 2 curring on or after the date of enactment of this 3 Act. 4 (b) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.—Section 813(d) of the Fair 5 Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692k(d)) is 6 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘In a civil 7 action alleging a violation of this title, the court may 8 award appropriate relief, including injunctive relief.’’. 9 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON THE REFERRAL OF EMERGENCY 10 INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE DEBT. 11 Chapter 3 of title 31, United States Code, is amend- 12 ed— 13 (1) in subchapter II, by adding at the end the 14 following: 15 ‘‘§ 334. Prohibition on the referral of emergency indi- 16 vidual assistance debt 17 ‘‘With respect to any assistance provided by the Fed- 18 eral Emergency Management Agency to an individual or 19 household pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re- 20 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122 et 21 seq.), if the Secretary of the Treasury seeks to recoup any 22 amount of such assistance because of an overpayment, the 23 Secretary may not contract with any debt collector or 24 other private party to collect such amounts, unless the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2628.IH H2628 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2628 IH overpayment occurred because of fraud or deceit and the 1 recipient of such assistance knew or should have known 2 about such fraud or deceit.’’; and 3 (2) in the table of contents for such chapter, by 4 inserting after the item relating to section 333 the 5 following: 6 ‘‘334. Prohibition on the referral of emergency individual assistance debt.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2628.IH H2628 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS