Bill Text: FL S0128 | 2023 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Contacting Consumer Debtors

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2023-05-05 - Died in Fiscal Policy [S0128 Detail]

Download: Florida-2023-S0128-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2023                              CS for SB 128
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Banking and Insurance; and Senator Rodriguez
       
       
       
       
       
       597-03288-23                                           2023128c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to contacting consumer debtors;
    3         creating s. 559.721, F.S.; prohibiting creditors from
    4         contacting debtors regarding specified types of debt
    5         under certain circumstances, to conform to federal
    6         regulations; amending s. 559.725, F.S.; requiring the
    7         Office of Financial Regulation of the Financial
    8         Services Commission to inform and furnish relevant
    9         information to the appropriate regulatory body of the
   10         state, the Federal Government, or The Florida Bar if a
   11         person has been named in a certain consumer complaint
   12         alleging specified violations of law; providing an
   13         effective date.
   14          
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Section 559.721, Florida Statutes, is created to
   18  read:
   19         559.721 Prohibitions on contacting debtors who are victims
   20  of certain crimes.—In collecting consumer debts, a consumer
   21  collection agency may not:
   22         (1) Contact a debtor regarding a debt that arises from
   23  documented human trafficking and economic abuse.
   24         (a) Documented human trafficking and economic abuse occur
   25  when:
   26         1. Official documentation as defined in s. 943.0583 shows
   27  at least one incident of human trafficking has occurred in which
   28  the debtor is listed as a victim or in which the debtor received
   29  relocation assistance under s. 960.196; and
   30         2. The debtor provides the consumer collection agency with
   31  a signed affidavit, swearing under penalty of perjury that the
   32  following are true:
   33         a. The debtor was the victim of human trafficking as
   34  documented in a police report, or there has been a determination
   35  that the debtor should receive relocation assistance under s.
   36  960.196;
   37         b. As a result of human trafficking, the debtor was
   38  compelled to incur debt or was provided credit that the debtor
   39  would not otherwise have incurred in the absence of the abuse,
   40  including instances in which the debtor’s identity has been
   41  stolen; and
   42         c. The debt that is the subject of the consumer collection
   43  agency contact with the debtor was incurred solely because of
   44  and during the period of human trafficking.
   45         (b) The prohibition in this subsection applies:
   46         1. For 1 year after the affidavit under subparagraph (a)2.
   47  is provided to the consumer collection agency; or
   48         2. Indefinitely, if the perpetrator has been convicted of a
   49  crime relating to human trafficking as alleged in the police
   50  report.
   51         (2) Contact a debtor regarding debts that arose when the
   52  debtor was in foster care. This prohibition applies after the
   53  debtor provides the consumer collection agency with a signed
   54  affidavit, swearing under penalty of perjury that the following
   55  are true:
   56         (a) The debtor was in foster care as defined in s. 39.01;
   57  and
   58         (b) The debt that is the subject of the consumer collection
   59  agency contact with the debtor was incurred during the time when
   60  the debtor was in foster care.
   61         Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 559.725, Florida
   62  Statutes, is amended to read:
   63         559.725 Consumer complaints; administrative duties.—
   64         (2) The office shall inform and furnish relevant
   65  information to the appropriate regulatory body of the state or
   66  the Federal Government, or The Florida Bar in the case of
   67  attorneys, if a person has been named in a consumer complaint
   68  pursuant to subsection (3) alleging violations of s. 559.72 or
   69  s. 559.721. The Attorney General may take action against any
   70  person in violation of this part.
   71         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.