AG Alliance Roundup - March 4th, 2021

Announcements, information and updates from the AG Alliance Members and Associates

March 4th, 2021

UPCOMING EVENTS

*Please check back for frequent updates

Hate Speech and the Internet

Thursday, April 8th from 2 - 3pm ET

Moderated by Attorney General Karl Racine, District of Columbia

Registration & Details

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Over the last year, communities across the country have assessed their treatment of minorities and other under-represented populations. In an effort to facilitate dialogue in the Attorney General community, Amazon and the Attorney General Alliance have partnered to create a series of conversations exploring issues around justice and social equity. We are excited to announce 2021 as the inaugural year of this forum and we look forward to providing focused programing aimed at facilitating exploration of these issues. We thank Amazon for their leadership and invite all of our public and private partners join us as we embark on these discussions.

UPCOMING VIRTUAL PROGRAMS

Organized Retail Crime and the INFORM Act

Tuesday, March 9th from 1-2pm ET

Moderated by Attorney General Chris Carr, Georgia

Panelists:

Tania Maestas, Chief Deputy Attorney General, New Mexico
Scott Draher, Vice President of Asset Protection, Lowe’s
Michael Hanson, Spokesperson, Buy Safe America Coalition
Ben Dugan, CFI, Asset Analytics and Insights –Director, Organized Retail Crime & Corporate Investigations, CVS Health
Mike Dabbs, Senior Director, Americas Government Relations, eBay
Representative of Etsy

Registration

ATTORNEY GENERAL ACTIONS

POLICY MAKING

Washington AG Ferguson requested a bill to create a database of police use-of-force incidents so the public, policymakers, researchers and law enforcement can access the data. By a bipartisan 46-2 vote state senators passed the bill.

CONSUMER PROTECTION

Texas AG Paxton and his Consumer Protection Division warned Texans to be aware of energy price hikes and offered tips to protect Texans from excessive and potentially unlawful charges after the recent winter weather storm.

Nebraska AG Peterson filed a complaint in the District Court of Saunders County alleging multiple environmental violations by AltEn, LLC. The complaint alleges multiple violations of permit conditions and violations of an order from the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

Texas AG Paxton filed a lawsuit against Griddy, LLC for violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act through false, misleading, and deceptive advertising and marketing practices during February freeze.

Connecticut AG Tong and the Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner warned consumers to be vigilant when using “peer to peer” apps like CashApp, Venmo, PayPal and Zelle to avoid losing money, giving out valuable personal information, or being victimized by scammers.

Florida AG Moody’s efforts to protect Floridians and hold scammers accountable continued this week as Florida recognizes National Consumer Protection Week. Since 2019, Attorney General Moody’s Consumer Protection Division has secured more than $260 million in restitution and other relief for Floridians.

Colorado AG Weiser kicked off National Consumer Protection Week by unveiling the list of the top 10 consumer complaints and inquiries his office received in 2020, which included airlines’ response to upended travel, robocalls, and pandemic purchase scams.

COMMUNITY

Walmart added an additional $350 billion invest to their commitment to investing in products made, grown or assembled in America, supporting U.S. manufacturing, and employing Americans.

AT&T announced the selection of more than 100 organizations and schools across the country that will receive free wireless hotspots as well as wireless data and content filtering services as part of their $10 million commitment to bridge the homework gap, to help at home learning during the pandemic.

CONSUMER PROTECTION

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit in federal court against BrightSpeed Solutions Inc. and its founder, for knowingly processing payments for companies engaged in internet-based technical-support fraud.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a notice of proposed rule making to delay the mandatory compliance date of the General Qualified Mortgage final rule.

SOCIAL JUSTICE & EQUITY INITIATIVES

IN THE NEWS

Merck announced a fifth round of global grants in its Merck for Mothers Global Grants program dedicated to reducing maternal mortality and promote health equity worldwide.

The Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia announces it is commemorating Black History and Women’s History Month, to celebrate women who were pioneers of civil rights, civil liberties, and social justice movements. They continue celebrating Black history and Black lives by also honoring the Black women who paved the way for us today.

JPMorgan Chase announced a new $350 million, five-year global commitment to grow Black, Latinx, women-owned and other underserved small businesses, to help address the racial wealth divide and create a more inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

CHAIR'S WORKING GROUP

Thank you again to all the public and private representatives who joined our third working group call. We had representatives from 11 states along with several companies of whom were all able to share insights and thought leadership on the challenges we are all facing related to COVID-19.

Specifically we focused on further questions that may arise as the process of reopening continues. Some of these questions include reviewing the limitations of executive orders, the liability to which businesses may be held after reopening, and possible vaccine requirements employers may enforce on their employees.

Join us on Wednesday, March 10th at 11am PST for another conversation on issues related to the pandemic and COVID-19 vaccine. Additional information for that call will be provided to registrants via email.

To join any/all of these calls, REGISTER HERE.

Download our current Chair's Policy Outline here.

For more information, please contact

David Blake

General Counsel for the AGA

david.blake@agalliance.org

(202) 255-9668

VIRTUAL SEMINAR LIBRARY

Missed our live programs? No problem! Follow the button below to visit our Virtual Seminar Library for access to all recordings.

Do you have a webinar topic suggestion? We want to hear from you! Please email ideas to Andrea Friedman at AFriedman@AGAlliance.org.

Virtual Library

CWAG Executive Committee

- AG Wayne Stenehjem - AG Phil Weiser -

- AG Jason Ravnsborg - AG Hector Balderas -

AG Alliance Co-Chairs

- AG Lawrence Wasden - AG Sean Reyes - AG Karl Racine -

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