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I have been an advocate for consumers my entire adult life,
and since coming to Congress, I have continued my fight to protect consumers
from unsafe products, identity theft, and privacy invasions. The last few
years have revealed the risks of personal records flowing over the Internet,
lax security of financial information, and growing numbers of recalls of
unsafe products. Consumers’ safety, financial security and privacy are being
jeopardized and I am working to help protect them. RECENT PRESS RELEASES
► (Sept. 28, 2006) IN WAKE OF HP SCANDAL, SCHAKOWSKY RENEWS CALL FOR END TO PRETEXTING
► (Sept. 15, 2006) SCHAKOWSKY, DELAURO AND DEGETTE CALL FOR HEARING ON THE SAFE FOOD ACT
► (Sept. 15, 2006) SCHAKOWSKY FOCUSES ON CONTACT LENS POLICY
► (September 6, 2006) SCHAKOWSKY Renews call for passage of kids and cars SAFETY ACT
► (June 8, 2006) SCHAKOWSKY ASKS NEGROPANTE TO EXPLAIN WAIVER THAT COULD PROTECT CORPORATIONS THAT SHARE CONSUMER PHONE, INTERNET RECORDS WITH GOVT
LEGISLATION
Here is information on legislation that I have worked on or cosponsored in the 109th Congress (2005-2006).
► H.R. 4896 - The Infant and Toddler Durable Product Safety Act The bill requires that all infant and toddler durable products be tested and certified according to specific safety standards before they can be put on the market.
► H.R. 4127 - The Data Accountability and Trust Act (DATA Act) This bill which would require companies to better secure personal information and notify consumers should their information be breached.
► H.R. 29, the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act (SPY Act) This bill would prohibit fraudsters from downloading “spyware,” or questionable software onto consumers computers without the consumers express consent
► H.R. 4678, the Stop Attempted Fraud against Everyone’s Cell and Land Line Act (SAFE CALL Act) This bill was used as the base bill for H.R. 4943, the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act. H.R. 4943 would prohibit pretexting for phone record and require that phone companies establish better security practices to ensure they are not jeopardizing their customers in any way.
ISSUES Personal Financial Information: Over the last year, the personal information of 54 million consumers was not adequately protected by businesses and has been hacked into, lost, breached, or otherwise compromised. My subcommittee, the CTCP, has introduced legislation to protect consumers from identity theft, fraud, and other unlawful acts that can be committed when personal and financial information is accessed and misused. I am the leading Democratic contributor to H.R. 4127, the Data Accountability and Trust Act, or the DATA Act, which would require companies to better secure personal information and notify consumers should their information be breached. The DATA Act also includes additional responsibilities for information brokers – those who make their living selling consumers’ personal records. In particular, it requires data brokers to verify the accuracy of information they gather to help ensure that consumers are not misrepresented and gives consumers’ the right to access and inspect their records. The bill passed in the Energy and Commerce Committee by a vote of 41-0 and is awaiting floor consideration. Spyware: I am one of the leading Democratic contributors to H.R. 29, the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act, or the SPY Act, which would prohibit fraudsters from downloading “spyware,” or questionable software onto consumers computers without the consumers express consent. Spyware allows others to track consumers’ web usage, can log every keystroke that is entered, or can take “snapshots” of what’s on consumers screens. It has since passed on the House floor by a vote of 393-4 and when the Senate finishes their version of the bill, we will go to conference to work out the differences. Pretexting: I was the first member of Congress to bring attention to and work on pretexting for phone records. Pretexting is when scam artists call phone companies, posing as consumers, in order to get their personal phone records that would not otherwise be revealed. The fraudsters then sell the phone records for profit online. I introduced H.R. 4678, the Stop Attempted Fraud against Everyone’s Cell and Land Line Act, or the SAFE CALL Act, which was used as the base bill for H.R. 4943, the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act. H.R. 4943 would prohibit pretexting for phone record and require that phone companies establish better security practices to ensure they are not jeopardizing their customers in any way. It would also put the control of personal phone records back in consumers’ hands, requiring them to “opt-in” – or expressly consent – before any phone record is shared. It passed in the Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously and is now waiting for consideration on the House floor. Car Safety Standards for Children: My subcommittee has held a hearing concerning the car safety standards that were included in the H.R. 3, Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act, which was signed into law in August 2005. Because of the full Energy and Commerce Committee’s ranking Democratic member, Representative John Dingell, and my urging, the car safety provisions stayed in the bill through the conference and are now law. Those provisions included collecting statistics on non-traffic related deaths and injuries involving vehicles (like running over children in driveways); power-window switch requirements that will prevent children from accidentally engaging the window and strangling themselves; and a study of back-over prevention devices to prevent the 100+ children from being run over in their driveways each year. Those provisions, as well as others, are also in H.R. 2230, the Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act, which I have introduced with Representative Peter King in both the 108th and 109th Congresses. Katrina Cars: CTCP held a hearing on a fraud known as title washing in March 2006. Title washing is “cleaning” a car’s title of the car’s actual history, such as having been in a bad accident and rebuilt. According to the National Association of Attorneys General, this is the largest threat facing buyers of used cars and there are millions of cars on the street that have had their titles washed. Hurricane Katrina damaged over 600,000 cars and it is expected that many of those cars will be making it back onto the market with washed titles. During the hearing, the chairmen of the full and subcommittee, Representatives Barton and Stearns, agreed that we need to further discuss whether legislation is needed to ensure that insurance companies are sharing the correct information about cars’ conditions to DMVs, dealers, and consumers. I will keep you posted on our progress. Steroids: I am the lead Democrat on H.R. 3084, the Drug Free Sports Act, which would combat the use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports. It would establish a list of prohibited drugs, require random testing throughout the year, and require that professional sports leagues adopt these procedures as a minimum policy. I am especially concerned about young athletes, the high school and college students. I believe a contributing factor to their use is that there is a ripple effect through the athletic world around steroid use. High schoolers and college players are seeing professional athletes making millions of dollars off of their steroid-enhanced performances and know that use is rewarded. If we can stem the use in professional sports, I believe we will also have a serious effect at curtailing the use by our younger athletes. The bill passed out of the full Energy and Commerce Committee by a vote of 38-2 and is now awaiting floor consideration. |
CHILD PRODUCT SAFETY LINKS
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