AG Alliance Roundup May 19th, 2021

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

May 19th, 2021

UPCOMING EVENTS

2021 Summer Annual Meeting

Hosted by: Attorney General Alliance

We are excited to welcome the Attorney General community to our Annual Summer Meeting. We are honored and appreciative of the strong response and support we have had by our community and are excited to have the first bipartisan gathering of Attorneys General since pre-pandemic days! We regret the Annual Meeting sold out so quickly and look forward to expanded programing and attendance in our program in the coming months. Please see our draft agenda below.

Draft Agenda

Consumer Alerts and COVID-19 Scams

Thursday May 27th from 1-1:40pm ET

Moderated by Attorney General Steve Marshall, Alabama

The pandemic has seen an unprecedented increase in unemployment fraud, where bad actors are using social security numbers to illegally obtain COVID-19 unemployment relief funds. Jessica Whitney from the Iowa AGs office will discuss what they are doing to protect consumers, track and combat such fraud and share best practices for moving forward. Matt McGuire of Shopify will discuss Shopify's approach to combating fraudulent and illegal COVID-19 products, including what the company is doing to track and take down fraudulent vaccine cards and vaccines themselves. Finally, Michael Scholl from Starkey will discuss modifications in regulations around medical devices that have led to several offices putting out senior alerts on hearing aids.

Panelists:

Jessica Whitney, Deputy Attorney General for Public Protection, Office of the Attorney General of Iowa
Matt McGuire, Senior Legal Counsel, Global Regulatory Affairs and Enforcement, Shopify
Michael Scholl, Chief Compliance Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Relations, Starkey

Registration

ATTORNEY GENERAL ACTIONS

CONSUMER PROTECTION

Washington AG Ferguson filed a lawsuit against Landmark Technology A for its predatory “patent troll” practices that harm small businesses. His lawsuit asserts the company violated the Patent Troll Protection Act.

Utah AG Reyes' Office announced results of a multi-jurisdiction sting operation carried out in response to a sharp increase in theft and the illegal sale of catalytic converters throughout the state.

Connecticut AG Tong called on the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to reject an unwarranted and unreasonable $20 million rate increase for Connecticut Water Company customers.

OPIOID CRISIS

Florida AG Moody has urged Congressional leaders to enact the Federal Initiative to Guarantee Health by Targeting Fentanyl Act. U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan filed the Act, HR 3269 on the U.S. House floor. The FIGHT Fentanyl Act will permanently add fentanyl-related compounds to Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

TOBACCO

California AG Bonta filed brief that argued that the federal Tobacco Control Act preserves state and local authority to implement sales restrictions on flavored tobacco products.

BIG TECH

D.C. AG Racine announced that AT&T Mobility National Accounts LLC agreed to pay $1.5 million for its failure to comply with its long-term contract with the District for cell phone and internet services and, as a result, overcharging District taxpayers by millions of dollars.

CHILDREN PROTECTION

Kentucky AG Cameron has urged the Beshear Administration to reinstate a long-standing relationship with Sunrise Children’s Services to provide foster care and adoption-related services for Kentucky children.

HOT TOPICS

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY

D.C. AG Racine issued a statement after Congress passed bipartisan legislation he advocated for to provide state and local governments and law enforcement agencies with the tools and resources to understand, identify, and report hate crimes.

Uber released their progress on anti-racism commitments and how they plan to continue to fight against racism and inequality both within, and outside their company.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT

CONSUMER PROTECTION

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau requested that a federal district court enter a final judgment and order that would require DMB Financial, LLC to pay consumers at least $5.4 million for charging unlawful fees and failing to provide required disclosures to its customers, and a civil penalty.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Five federal financial regulatory agencies will extend the comment period on the request for information on financial institutions’ use of artificial intelligence.

CANNABIS

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) provided a statement from Scott Melville, president and CEO, upon the introduction of the Hemp Access and Consumer Safety Act.

COMMUNITY

Wells Fargo announced the issuance of an Inclusive Communities and Climate Bond, its first Sustainability Bond, which will fund projects and programs that support housing affordability, socioeconomic opportunity, and renewable energy.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FOR ONGOING SOCIAL JUSTICE & EQUITY INITIATIVES

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.

VIRTUAL SEMINAR LIBRARY

State and Local Responses to Rising Hate

AG Alliance Social Justice & Equity Initiatives

Tuesday, May 18th from 3 - 4pm ET

Moderated by Attorney General Karl Racine, District of Columbia Attorney General

District of Columbia Attorney General and AGA Co-Chair Karl Racine is joined by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and leaders from the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League to explore the rise of hate incidents and hate groups across the U.S., and to present how their organizations are helping state and locals respond. This conversation will focus on sharing opportunities and practices to empower state and local authorities to combat hate.

Panelists:

Peter Neronha, Attorney General, Rhode Island
Michael Lieberman, Senior Policy Advisor, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
Ryan Greer, National Security Director and Chief of Staff for Government Relations, Advocacy and Community, Anti-Defamation League (ADL)

View Recording

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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