The city council seeks to replace temporary legislation to protect consumers during the pandemic with a permanent debt collection law. The temporary legislation expires on June 9, 2022.
05/04/2022 1:30 P.M.
2 minute read
The Washington, D.C., City Council briefly reviewed a bill Tuesday that would strengthen the district’s debt collection law.
The “Protecting Consumers from Unjust Debt Collection Practices Temporary Amendment Act of 2022,” sponsored by City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, addresses gaps in the district’s current debt collection law, which was passed in 1971.
“It substantially expands our law with relation to the collection of debt,” Mendelson said, adding that it also changes the regulation of how debt can be collected, such as how many times a week debt collectors can contact consumers.
The city council unanimously approved the bill 13-0 in what is considered a first reading.
The next step will likely be discussion at the council’s legislative meeting on June 7. There may be amendments to the bill, 24-257, at that time.
Getting to the Law
The city council also reviewed the bill during a March meeting where call caps and addressing debt collection complaints were discussed, ACA International previously reported.
The council voted to review the bill again in April, but that discussion was tabled to the meeting held May 3.
For background, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a temporary version of the bill in September 2021, ACA previously reported.
The legislation also sought to modernize the district’s debt collection law and establish temporary updates to current debt collection laws before restrictions on debt collection communications ended in late September.
The proposed final version of the bill seeks to finalize and replace temporary legislation that was enacted in response to consumers’ hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic and allow extra consumer protections if a public health emergency is declared by the mayor. The temporary legislation currently in place would expire on June 9, 2022, if not replaced by a permanent bill before that date.
However, the council will have options and would be expected to use them to bridge the gap between the temporary legislation expiring and the permanent bill taking effect if needed.
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