Debt Collection Practices Harmonization Act

IB Union Calendar No. 542 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 3948 [Report No. 116–658] 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 JULY 24, 2019 Mr. MEEKS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services DECEMBER 16, 2020 Additional sponsors: Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. CLEAVER, and Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia DECEMBER 16, 2020 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 24, 2019] VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3948.RH H3948 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3948 RH 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. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3948.RH H3948 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3948 RH 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 Practices 4 Harmonization Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PREVENTING DECEPTIVE AND HARASSING PRAC- 6 TICES WHEN COLLECTING DEBT OWED TO A 7 STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 8 Section 803(5) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices 9 Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a(5)) is amended— 10 (1) by striking ‘‘money arising out’’ and insert- 11 ing the following: ‘‘money— 12 ‘‘(A) arising out’’; 13 (2) by striking ‘‘judgment.’’ and inserting ‘‘judg- 14 ment; or’’; and 15 (3) by adding at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(B) owed to a State.’’. 17 SEC. 3. AWARD OF DAMAGES. 18 (a) ADDITIONAL DAMAGES INDEXED FOR INFLA- 19 TION.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 813 of the Fair Debt 21 Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692k) is amend- 22 ed by adding at the end the following: 23 ‘‘(f) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3948.RH H3948 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3948 RH ‘‘(1) INITIAL ADJUSTMENT.—Not later than 90 1 days after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 2 the Bureau shall provide a percentage increase 3 (rounded to the nearest multiple of $100 or $1,000, as 4 applicable) in the amounts set forth in this section 5 equal to the percentage by which— 6 ‘‘(A) the Consumer Price Index for All 7 Urban Consumers (all items, United States city 8 average) for the 12-month period ending on the 9 June 30 preceding the date on which the percent- 10 age increase is provided, exceeds 11 ‘‘(B) the Consumer Price Index for the 12- 12 month period preceding January 1, 1978. 13 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL ADJUSTMENTS.—With respect to 14 any fiscal year beginning after the date of the in- 15 crease provided under paragraph (1), the Bureau 16 shall provide a percentage increase (rounded to the 17 nearest multiple of $100 or $1,000, as applicable) in 18 the amounts set forth in this section equal to the per- 19 centage by which— 20 ‘‘(A) the Consumer Price Index for All 21 Urban Consumers (all items, United States city 22 average) for the 12-month period ending on the 23 June 30 preceding the beginning of the fiscal 24 year for which the increase is made, exceeds 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3948.RH H3948 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3948 RH ‘‘(B) the Consumer Price Index for the 12- 1 month period preceding the 12-month period de- 2 scribed in subparagraph (A).’’. 3 (2) APPLICABILITY.—The increases made under 4 section 813(f) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices 5 Act, as added by paragraph (1) of this subsection, 6 shall apply with respect to failures to comply with a 7 provision of such Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) occur- 8 ring on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 9 (b) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.—Section 813(d) of the Fair 10 Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692k(d)) is 11 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘In a civil 12 action alleging a violation of this title, the court may award 13 appropriate relief, including injunctive relief.’’. 14 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON THE REFERRAL OF EMERGENCY 15 INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE DEBT. 16 Chapter 3 of title 31, United States Code, is amend- 17 ed— 18 (1) in subchapter II, by adding at the end the 19 following: 20 ‘‘§ 334. Prohibition on the referral of emergency indi- 21 vidual assistance debt 22 ‘‘With respect to any assistance provided by the Fed- 23 eral Emergency Management Agency to an individual or 24 household pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3948.RH H3948 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3948 RH and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122 et seq.), if 1 the Secretary of the Treasury seeks to recoup any amount 2 of such assistance because of an overpayment, the Secretary 3 may not contract with any debt collector or other private 4 party to collect such amounts, unless the overpayment oc- 5 curred because of fraud or deceit and the recipient of such 6 assistance knew or should have known about such fraud or 7 deceit.’’; and 8 (2) in the table of contents for such chapter, by 9 inserting after the item relating to section 333 the fol- 10 lowing: 11 ‘‘334. Prohibition on the referral of emergency individual assistance debt.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6213 E:\BILLS\H3948.RH H3948 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6213 E:\BILLS\H3948.RH H3948 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with BILLS Union Calendar No. 542 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 3948 [Report No. 116–658] 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. DECEMBER 16, 2020 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com- mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Dec 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H3948.RH H3948 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with BILLS