| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 118THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 5674 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to provide enhanced protec- |
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| 6 | 6 | | tion against debt collector harassment of members of the Armed Forces, |
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| 7 | 7 | | and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | SEPTEMBER22, 2023 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Ms. D |
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| 11 | 11 | | EANof Pennsylvania (for herself and Mr. DAVIDSON) introduced the |
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| 12 | 12 | | following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to provide |
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| 15 | 15 | | enhanced protection against debt collector harassment |
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| 16 | 16 | | of members of the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. |
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| 17 | 17 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 18 | 18 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 19 | 19 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 20 | 20 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Debt Collection 4 |
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| 21 | 21 | | Practices for Servicemembers Act’’. 5 |
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| 22 | 22 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Sep 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5674.IH H5674 |
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| 23 | 23 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 24 | 24 | | •HR 5674 IH |
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| 25 | 25 | | SEC. 2. ENHANCED PROTECTION AGAINST DEBT COL-1 |
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| 26 | 26 | | LECTOR HARASSMENT OF 2 |
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| 27 | 27 | | SERVICEMEMBERS. 3 |
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| 28 | 28 | | (a) C |
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| 29 | 29 | | OMMUNICATION IN CONNECTIONWITHDEBT 4 |
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| 30 | 30 | | C |
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| 31 | 31 | | OLLECTION.—Section 805 of the Fair Debt Collection 5 |
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| 32 | 32 | | Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692c) is amended by adding 6 |
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| 33 | 33 | | at the end the following: 7 |
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| 34 | 34 | | ‘‘(e) C |
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| 35 | 35 | | OMMUNICATIONS CONCERNINGSERVICEMEM-8 |
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| 36 | 36 | | BERDEBTS.— 9 |
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| 37 | 37 | | ‘‘(1) C |
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| 38 | 38 | | OVERED MEMBER DEFINED .—In this 10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | subsection, the term ‘covered member’ means any of 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | the following: 12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | ‘‘(A) A covered member or a dependent as 13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | defined in section 987(i) of title 10, United 14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | States Code. 15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | ‘‘(B) An individual who was separated, dis-16 |
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| 45 | 45 | | charged, or released from duty described in 17 |
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| 46 | 46 | | such section 987(i)(1), but only during the 365- 18 |
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| 47 | 47 | | day period beginning on the date of separation, 19 |
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| 48 | 48 | | discharge, or release. 20 |
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| 49 | 49 | | ‘‘(C) A person, with respect to an indi-21 |
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| 50 | 50 | | vidual described in subparagraph (B), described 22 |
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| 51 | 51 | | in subparagraph (A), (D), (E), or (I) of section 23 |
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| 52 | 52 | | 1072(2) of title 10, United States Code. 24 |
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| 53 | 53 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Sep 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5674.IH H5674 |
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| 54 | 54 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 55 | 55 | | •HR 5674 IH |
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| 56 | 56 | | ‘‘(2) PROHIBITIONS.—A debt collector may not, 1 |
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| 57 | 57 | | in connection with the collection of any debt of a 2 |
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| 58 | 58 | | covered member— 3 |
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| 59 | 59 | | ‘‘(A) threaten to have the covered member 4 |
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| 60 | 60 | | reduced in rank; 5 |
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| 61 | 61 | | ‘‘(B) threaten to have the covered mem-6 |
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| 62 | 62 | | ber’s security clearance revoked; or 7 |
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| 63 | 63 | | ‘‘(C) threaten to have the covered member 8 |
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| 64 | 64 | | prosecuted under chapter 47 of title 10, United 9 |
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| 65 | 65 | | States Code (the Uniform Code of Military Jus-10 |
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| 66 | 66 | | tice).’’. 11 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (b) U |
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| 68 | 68 | | NFAIRPRACTICES.—Section 808 of the Fair 12 |
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| 69 | 69 | | Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692f) is amend-13 |
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| 70 | 70 | | ed by adding at the end the following: 14 |
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| 71 | 71 | | ‘‘(9) The representation or implication to any 15 |
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| 72 | 72 | | covered member (as defined under section 805(e)(1)) 16 |
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| 73 | 73 | | that failure to cooperate with a debt collector will re-17 |
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| 74 | 74 | | sult in— 18 |
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| 75 | 75 | | ‘‘(A) a reduction in rank of the covered 19 |
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| 76 | 76 | | member; 20 |
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| 77 | 77 | | ‘‘(B) a revocation of the covered member’s 21 |
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| 78 | 78 | | security clearance; or 22 |
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| 79 | 79 | | ‘‘(C) prosecution under chapter 47 of title 23 |
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| 80 | 80 | | 10, United States Code (the Uniform Code of 24 |
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| 81 | 81 | | Military Justice).’’. 25 |
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| 82 | 82 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Sep 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5674.IH H5674 |
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| 83 | 83 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 84 | 84 | | •HR 5674 IH |
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| 85 | 85 | | SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 1 |
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| 86 | 86 | | The Comptroller General of the United States shall 2 |
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| 87 | 87 | | conduct a study and submit a report to Congress on the 3 |
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| 88 | 88 | | impact of this Act on— 4 |
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| 89 | 89 | | (1) the timely delivery of information to a cov-5 |
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| 90 | 90 | | ered member (as defined in section 805(e) of the 6 |
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| 91 | 91 | | Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, as added by this 7 |
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| 92 | 92 | | Act); 8 |
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| 93 | 93 | | (2) military readiness; and 9 |
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| 94 | 94 | | (3) national security, including the extent to 10 |
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| 95 | 95 | | which covered members with security clearances 11 |
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| 96 | 96 | | would be impacted by uncollected debt. 12 |
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| 97 | 97 | | Æ |
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| 98 | 98 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Sep 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5674.IH H5674 |
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| 99 | 99 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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