Social Security Administration Should Implement New Database

Consumers in our respective jurisdictions continue to contact us about the growing problem of identity fraud. The fraud comes in various forms and causes various harms, including monetary loss, damage to credit score, and detriment to personal security. As both law enforcement officials and advisors to government agencies, we know the challenges of keeping government systems a step ahead of fraudulent actors. Although the challenge may be great, we urge you to prioritize making your systems as nimble and strong as possible to combat this growing problem.

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Bipartisan Coalition of 52 Attorneys General Send USTelecom Letter Outlining Plan to Strengthen Illegal Robocall Enforcement

This letter marks approximately eight months since fifty-one state attorneys general and twelve leading voice service providers (“VSPs”) promulgated the Anti-Robocall Principles (“Principles”) in order to more effectively combat the unwanted and illegal robocalls inundating the American people. The collaboration reflected in the Principles is intended to halt the onslaught of such calls and to “aid the State Attorneys General in identifying and prosecuting illegal robocallers.” The state attorneys general and telecom industry participants also supported efforts by the U.S. Congress to enact the TRACED Act, which focuses on tracing illegal robocalls in addition to other sweeping anti-robocall measures.

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State AGs Support Amendment to Communications Decency Act

In 2013 and again in 2017, Attorneys General from virtually every state and territory wrote to inform Congress of a damaging misinterpretation and misapplication of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) that rendered state and local authorities unable to enforce criminal laws against companies that actively profited from the promotion and facilitation of sex trafficking and crimes against children. To be sure, we are grateful for all the work you have done to protect the vulnerable among us. To bootstrap your efforts, we renew our recommendation for a modest but necessary amendment to the CDA. We must enable our state and local authorities to protect our citizens, including the most vulnerable among us, and to take appropriate action against criminal actors.

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NAAG Urges FDA to Include AGs in Oversight of Cannabis-Derived Products

As the primary enforcers of our respective states’ consumer protection laws, we offer a unique perspective as to the new legalized market of certain cannabis and cannabis-derived compounds, including CBD products. We write to express our hope that the FDA continues to explore manufacturing, testing, and marketing best practices so that consumers are not at risk of misleading advertising or harm to their health from dangerous additives or undisclosed risks of use. Although products containing cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds may well offer real benefits to consumers, it is important that consumers have reliable risk and benefit information to make informed choices about initiating and continuing the use of these products. A crucial element of FDA regulation and oversight should be an on-going assessment of the potential risks or benefits of these products, particularly for specific populations such as pregnant women, adolescents and children, and the elderly. How these products interact with other dietary or pharmaceutical products should be included in this assessment. It is also important that companies not mislead consumers. Scientific and medical data from the FDA would assist in meaningful enforcement of advertising laws and regulations by the states.

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Attorneys General Raise Concern About Illegal Alcohol Sales Online

Social media and digital platforms have become interwoven into the fabric of our society. Consumers have become increasingly dependent on the broad access to goods for sale through these mediums. Unfortunately, the near unlimited access to goods has increasingly exposed consumers, including minors, to unlicensed sales of alcohol and counterfeit products. We are seeking your assistance to address some of the challenges to consumer protection associated with online marketplaces and to improve the legitimacy of these sales.

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