- Nov 29, 2008
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People must be protected against bad banks. The US Supreme Court ruled that states cannot sue bad national banks. I regret to inform them all that the people have every right to expect their states attorney generals to have the authority to sue for the protection of the citizens of the state they are in charge of. Both the people with their money in the bank and the people who makes payments to those banks. Since the Fed refuses to act within a responsible manner then the peoples representatives need too on their behalf. I have very little good to say about the legal guru's of Iowa but I do agree with their attorney general on this matter.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2009 300 PM
AGs back Obama's Consumer Financial Protection Agency
BY JOHN O'BRIEN
Obama
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The attorneys general of 22 states are urging Congress to pass a plan crafted by President Barack Obama's administration for a consumer protection agency that will team with them.
Obama is hoping to create a federal Consumer Financial Protection Agency that will regulate and supervise the financial industry, and 22 state attorneys general wrote four members of Congress Tuesday in support of it.
Of the 22 state attorneys general, only one - Hawaii's Mark Bennett - is a Republican. They wrote Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., of the Financial Services Committee.
"The current financial crisis, caused in part by irresponsible subprime lending and inadequate oversight, has demonstrated the need for comprehensive and effective consumer protection and enforcement at the federal level," the letter says.
"We believe an independent federal agency combined with joint enforcement by state officials is the best option for meaningful consumer protection in this area."
Frank introduced the legislation, H.R. 3126, in July.
"Any state attorney general may bring a civil action in the name of such state, as parens patriae on behalf of natural persons residing in such state, in any district court of the United States or state court having jurisdiction of the defendant, to secure monetary or equitable relief for violation of any provisions " it says.
The attorneys general who signed their names to the letter are: Arizona's Terry Goddard, California's Jerry Brown, Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal, Bennett, Illinois' Lisa Madigan, Iowa's Tom Miller, Louisiana's Buddy Caldwell, Maine's Janet Mills, Massachusetts' Martha Coakley, Minnesota's Lori Swanson, Minnesota's Jim Hood, Missouri's Chris Koster, Montana's Steve Bullock, Nevada's Catherine Cortez Masto, New Jersey's Anne Milgram, New Mexico's Gary King, North Carolina's Roy Cooper, Ohio's Richard Cordray, Oklahoma's Drew Edmondson, Oregon's John Kroger, Tennessee's Robert Cooper, Vermont's William Sorrell and West Virginia's Darrell McGraw.
Guam Attorney General Alicia Limtiaco also joined in the letter.
Part of the Obama administration's plan for financial regulation reform calls for the creation of a Financial Consumer Coordinating Council that will "establish mechanisms for state attorneys general, consumer advocates and others to make recommendations to the Council on issues to be considered or gaps to be filled."
Obama's proposal noted that state attorneys general are currently left to "fill the gap" where mortgage companies not owned by banks fall.
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state attorneys general did have the authority to sue national banks, and Bank of America's Countrywide Financial Corp. agreed to pay $8.4 billion in a multi-state settlement of predatory lending allegations..........cont'
