Policy experts and ACA International’s advocacy team weigh in on the presidential election, the makeup in Congress, as well as state election results. Editor’s note: This article is available for members only.
11/4/2020 12:00
ACA International’s advocacy team has been planning for the potential outcomes of the 2020 election for months and on Wednesday, during ACA’s Virtual Fall Forum & Expo, presented initial reactions and what the results mean for the priorities of the accounts receivable management (ARM) industry.
While it appears the Democrats retained their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans appear likely to maintain the majority in the U.S. Senate. The official presidential election result is unknown at this point, but ACA is prepared to pivot and advocate on behalf of members and the ARM industry no matter what happens.
“Things will remain largely unchanged in Congress for us, and I think that bodes well for ACA,” said ACA CEO Mark Neeb. “In an election year like this, we’ve got to be prepared for everything.”
ACA President G. Scott Purcell added that ACA’s advocacy won’t slow down no matter how the election turns out.
“Regardless of who wins, there is work for each of us to do to educate our legislators,” Purcell said.
Neeb and Purcell were joined by Leah Dempsey, ACA’s vice president and senior counsel of federal advocacy; Patrick Russell, ACA’s federal advocacy director; Andrew Madden, ACA’s vice president of state unit and government affairs; Travis Johnson, principal at 1607 Strategies; and Michael Morley, assistant professor at Florida State University College of Law.
The session, “Policy Experts Provide the ARM Industry Reaction as Election Results Come In,” provided a timely update and first look at what’s to come in Washington, D.C., and at the state level over the next two to four years and how this may impact your business.
Morley, Johnson and Dempsey discussed states with electoral votes that are likely to influence the presidential election, including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada and Arizona.
In Congress, while the blue wave that would have shifted the Senate majority to the Democrats did not happen, the outcomes for candidates on the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs may still influence the accounts receivable management industry.
U.S. Reps. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., and French Hill, R-Ark., won in their districts and U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., will remain ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee. Chairwoman U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., was reelected. If Republicans keep their majority in the Senate, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., could move into the role of chairman for his last two years in Congress. Toomey has announced his retirement and that he will not run for reelection in 2022. Read more on House and Senate elections in coverage from ACA here.
Looking at state elections, Madden said there were over 6,000 races ranging from state legislatures and governors to attorneys general and ballot initiatives.
Like some of the federal elections, the dust is still settling, Madden said. Of 11 gubernatorial elections Nov. 3, Republicans won eight and Democrats won three, resulting in a one seat pick up (Montana) for Republicans. The Republicans also had a successful night in defending five state attorneys general seats while the Democrats successfully defended three of their five attorneys general seats. The attorney general races in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, both currently held by Democrats, remain too close to call. Despite a large influx of money injected into state legislative races in Texas, Republicans retained their majority in the state House of Representatives. Democrats took advantage of a big blue turnout in Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware to expand their current majority in the Delaware Senate to a veto-proof supermajority. Heading into the election, Minnesota was the only split legislature in the country with Democrats controlling the House and Republicans controlling the Senate. While some races are still too close to call, Democrats appear poised to take full control of the Minnesota legislature.
Several states also had ballot initiatives that brought voters to the polls, the most important for the ARM industry being Proposition 24 in California, which would amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) to provide additional requirements regarding service providers’ use of consumer data, spell out provisions for sensitive information and establish a California Privacy Protection Agency, among other things. At press time, it appears the ballot initiative passed, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Concluding the session, ACA’s experts provided their predictions for the impact of the presidential election when those results are complete.
If the Senate Republicans maintain the majority, there may not be any Congressional Review Act challenges to rules passed during his administration over the last four years, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s debt collection rule, because they won’t advance in the Republican-controlled Senate, Dempsey said.
Biden, however, will have the authority to remove Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Seila Law vs. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will have to confirm her replacement. That could lead to a drawn-out battle over the bureau’s leadership. In the meantime, that might leave Deputy Director Thomas Pahl in charge of the bureau.
Dempsey also expects legislation impacting the industry to continue to be a focus in Democrat controlled House Financial Services Committee, and a Biden win could also mean a change in leadership at the Federal Communications Commission from Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican, to Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel. ACA’s coalition working with the FCC will have to focus on keeping momentum on modernizing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the FCC not reversing course for the industry if Rosenworcel were to take the helm. This is especially important considering the potentially industry-favorable definition of an automatic telephone dialing system in the TCPA once the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling in Facebook Inc. v. Duguid.
ACA will continue to cover outcomes of the election in ACA Daily. Subscribe here for updates.