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While the concept sounds good, the bill has been eviscerated by lobbyists to the point where the agency can do little because it won't have the authority. Example, the insurance industry will be exempt from the CFPA and yet it is one of the industries in dire need of consumer protection regulation. I thought the original concept was something all consumers could support. What is being discussed in Congress now is a bandaid when surgery is required.
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OK.
I watched it waaaay past the 3/4s mark, and still no appearance of an eerily floating Earl Tigré.
What gives?
She said it would have \"rule-writing authority\". Would Congress approve of those rules, or would they automatically be on the books with no oversight?
@MooseOfReason: While most agencies have rule making authority, the authority is limited in that it is to be interpretive of the statutes, not expanding or going around the statutes. The only difference is where Congress itself, in passing a law, gives rule making authority to the agency. This is often the case with income tax regulations where the Treasury Department is given the right to make interpretive regulations and those regulations have the force of law.
Example...if the CFPA passes and covers auto-title loans, and the law says that consumers have a 24-hour cooling off period, the agency may write rules requiring the 24-hour cooling off period provision to be provided in writing in 12 point type, but the agency wouldn't have the authority to expand the cooling off period to 48 hours.
@MooseOfReason: Many - well, all - of the Exec Branch agencies work on this basis: Congress has oversight over what the President's agencies do, both by funding and by committee. With the Supremes riding shotgun over the enterprise.
Separation of Powers, to the rescue!
@Trai_Dep: Yes, that's exactly how it works. Congress can, of course, tell the agency what to do, guide its rulemaking, etc. But legislation generally gives the agencies a certain amount of leeway to make their own rules.
One of the things that struck me is that it seems as though, for a consumer-oriented program, there aren't any warm, friendly, modern interfaces for the public to make suggestions to the CFPA.
For instance, a website w/ an email form doesn't seem proactive enough.
Will there be a role for more social media to serve as the interface? Will there be a blog, with comment ability (oh my gods, can this turn into a spam-fest, but if done right, it might make the entity more friendly). It'd also be nice if the CFPA served as an online clearinghouse for calculators, FAQs and other reference material.
In short, since this is a consumer-oriented agency, will it be making special effort to leverage social media, and if so, what forms of it would be ideal? What would not?
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Nice my question got asked :)
Thanks guys
So what I took from Diana repacked is that guidelines will come from industry regulators. We will then use those guidelines to decide how we as an agency will operate. Customer complaints will be taken into account.
The theory sounds good as long as those being consulted on good industry practices are not getting industry kickbacks and enforcement is not rendered toothless.
Good luck to the whole process
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transcript coming?
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@FrugalFreak: They said it would be available shortly. Consumerist taking a page out of the Comcast onsite technician handbook?
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Aces
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She doesn't seem serious about the problems. Anyone else pick that up?
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I'm still waiting for a transcript of the first part. Was it posted and I missed it?
I can assure you that President
Obama is aware of the Snuggie
situation and is taking it seriously.
@twophrasebark: Will PETA be handling the Snuggie for dogs?
*grins, ducks and runs.