I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3948 

To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to extend the provisions 

of that Act to cover a debt collector who is collecting debt owed to 

a State or local government, to index award amounts under such Act 

for inflation, to provide for civil injunctive relief for violations of such 

Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 24, 2019 

Mr. MEEKS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to extend 

the provisions of that Act to cover a debt collector who 

is collecting debt owed to a State or local government, 

to index award amounts under such Act for inflation, 

to provide for civil injunctive relief for violations of such 

Act, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Debt Collection Prac5 tices Harmonization Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PREVENTING DECEPTIVE AND HARASSING PRAC2 TICES WHEN COLLECTING DEBT OWED TO A 

3 STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 

4 Section 803(5) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices 

5 Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a(5)) is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘money arising out’’ and insert7 ing the following: ‘‘money— 

8 ‘‘(A) arising out’’; 

9 (2) by striking ‘‘judgment.’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘judgment; or’’; and 

11 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(B) owed to a State.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. AWARD OF DAMAGES. 

14 (a) ADDITIONAL DAMAGES INDEXED FOR INFLA15 TION.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 813 of the Fair 

17 Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692k) is 

18 amended by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(f) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.— 

20 ‘‘(1) INITIAL ADJUSTMENT.—Not later than 90 

21 days after the date of the enactment of this sub22 section, the Bureau shall provide a percentage in23 crease (rounded to the nearest multiple of $100 or 

24 $1,000, as applicable) in the amounts set forth in 

25 this section equal to the percentage by which— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the Consumer Price Index for All 

2 Urban Consumers (all items, United States city 

3 average) for the 12-month period ending on the 

4 June 30 preceding the date on which the per5 centage increase is provided, exceeds 

6 ‘‘(B) the Consumer Price Index for the 12- 

7 month period preceding January 1, 1978. 

8 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL ADJUSTMENTS.—With respect to 

9 any fiscal year beginning after the date of the in10 crease provided under paragraph (1), the Bureau 

11 shall provide a percentage increase (rounded to the 

12 nearest multiple of $100 or $1,000, as applicable) in 

13 the amounts set forth in this section equal to the 

14 percentage by which— 

15 ‘‘(A) the Consumer Price Index for All 

16 Urban Consumers (all items, United States city 

17 average) for the 12-month period ending on the 

18 June 30 preceding the beginning of the fiscal 

19 year for which the increase is made, exceeds 

20 ‘‘(B) the Consumer Price Index for the 12- 

21 month period preceding the 12-month period 

22 described in subparagraph (A).’’. 

23 (2) APPLICABILITY.—The increases made under 

24 section 813(f) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices 

25 Act, as added by paragraph (1) of this subsection, 


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1 shall apply with respect to failures to comply with a 

2 provision of such Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) oc3 curring on or after the date of enactment of this 

4 Act. 

5 (b) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.—Section 813(d) of the Fair 

6 Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692k(d)) is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘In a civil 

8 action alleging a violation of this title, the court may 

9 award appropriate relief, including injunctive relief.’’. 

10 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON THE REFERRAL OF EMERGENCY 

11 INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE DEBT. 

12 Chapter 3 of title 31, United States Code, is amend13 ed— 

14 (1) in subchapter II, by adding at the end the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘§ 334. Prohibition on the referral of emergency indi17 vidual assistance debt 

18 ‘‘With respect to any assistance provided by the Fed19 eral Emergency Management Agency to an individual or 

20 household pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re21 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122 et 

22 seq.), if the Secretary of the Treasury seeks to recoup any 

23 amount of such assistance because of an overpayment, the 

24 Secretary may not contract with any debt collector or 

25 other private party to collect such amounts.’’; and 


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1 (2) in the table of contents for such chapter, by 

2 inserting after the item relating to section 333 the 

3 following: 

‘‘334. Prohibition on the referral of emergency individual assistance debt.’’. 

Æ 


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