Attorneys general have been called upon regularly to provide Congressional testimony as a way to share their expertise and perspective to Congressional committees considering legislation that both overlaps with the work of the attorneys general and could impact the role of the attorneys general.
Consumer Protection
In February 2022, Sarah Frasch, Pennsylvania Chief Deputy Attorney General and Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection testified before the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce of the Committee on Energy and Commerce on how state attorneys general have responded to price gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In July 2020, North Carolina Senior Deputy Attorney General and Consumer Protection Division Director Kevin Anderson testified in front of the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce on consumer protection issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prepared testimony statement by Senior Deputy Attorney General Anderson.
In July 2020, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection in a hearing titled “Protecting Americans from COVID-19 Scams.” Attorney General Schmidt’s testimony included an overview of efforts by the Kansas Attorney General Office in responding to COVID-19 and ongoing consumer protection efforts.
Domestic Terrorism
In March 2021, Attorneys General Dana Nessel of Michigan and Aaron Ford of Nevada testified in front of the House Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on Intelligence & Counterterrorism on their states' responses to domestic terrorism incidents.
In May 2021, then-New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal testified in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform's Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on the rising role of militias in extremist violence and how New Jersey has responded.
Antitrust
In March 2021, Attorneys General Phil Weiser of Colorado and Doug Peterson of Nebraska testified before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law on their efforts to address antitrust issues and how Congress can better support efforts being led by attorneys general.
Learn more about antitrust work being done by attorneys general around the country.
Supreme Court Shadow Docket
In February 2021, District of Columbia Solicitor General Loren AliKhan testified in front of the House Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet on the impact of the Supreme Court's Shadow Docket. Solicitor General AliKhan previously was a 2020 recipient of the NAAG Senior Staff of the Year Award.
Learn more about the role of attorneys general in the Supreme Court.
Illegal Robocalls
In April 2019, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson testified in front of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet on how attorneys general are responding to illegal robocalls.
Elder Justice
In January 2019, Kansas Attorney General and then-NAAG Immediate Past-President Derek Schmidt testified in front of the Senate Special Committee on Aging on the work attorneys general were doing around elder fraud and highlighted work in this area during his NAAG Presidential Initiative.
In September 2018, Kansas Attorney General and then-NAAG Immediate Past-President Derek Schmidt testified in front of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee in support of H.R. 3891 and the expansion of Medicaid Fraud Control Units' authority to detect, investigate, and prosecute Medicaid patient abuse in non-institutional settings. The bill was endorsed by NAAG in a March 28, 2018 letter to Congress.
NAAG was pleased to see the language from this bill included in legislation signed by the President in December 2020.
