NCISS Legislative Alert - Data
Collection Bills and Hearing
Colleagues,
Two major developments are scheduled in Congress over the next
few days of critical importance to private investigators and
security firms.
First, the House Financial Services Committee has tentatively
scheduled a vote next week on HR 3149, “The Equal Employment
for All Act”. That bill would prohibit employers from
accessing credit reports. NCISS is joining with a coalition of
major industry groups to ask the Committee not to consider the
bill. We joined with the same group when Senator Feinstein
proposed identical legislation as an amendment to the financial
reform legislation, HR 4173, ‘The Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act of 2009’’. That proposal was stopped
in the Senate. In addition, our advocate met with staff of
members of the subcommittee at the time that a hearing was held
to explain how such reports are used by investigators. We may be
calling on you to contact your representatives on this issue if
the vote is formally scheduled.
In another critical development, the House Subcommittee on
Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection will be holding a
hearing Thursday afternoon on major privacy legislation which
could also have a dramatic impact on private investigators. The
Subcommittee will be reviewing two bills that would require that
notice be provided and consent be obtained from individuals from
whom “sensitive” data are obtained. HR 5777, ‘‘Building
Effective Strategies to Promote Responsibility Accountability
Choice Transparency Innovation Consumer Expectations and
Safeguards Act’’ or the ‘‘BEST PRACTICES Act’’ by
Representative Bobby Rush (D-IL) was introduced Monday. The
subcommittee will also consider a similar draft bill by
Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA), who chairs the subcommittee
on Communications, Technology and the Internet.
Recent publicity regarding behavioral advertising, privacy
changes at Facebook, and some practices by Google have increased
pressure on Congress to act to limit data collection from
individuals who have not granted their permission. Although the
activities of private investigators do not appear to be the
targets of the legislation, the definitions in these proposals
appear to include investigative functions. Although the bills
include numerous exceptions, none appears to apply to private
investigators. For example, HR 5777 exempts many businesses
which collect information from or about less than 10,000
individuals in a year. But the exception does not apply to those
who use “covered information to study, monitor, or analyze the
behavior of individuals as the person’s primary business”. The
exception also does not include those who collect “sensitive
information”.
We are contacting members of the subcommittee in advance of the
hearing to show why private investigators need a clear exception
under the bill. We will also work with subcommittee members
following the hearing to prevent the legislation from impacting
private investigators.
Copies of the proposed bills can be found at the NCISS website,
www.NCISS.org.Keeping the
profession informed,
Jimmie Mesis, LPI
NCISS Legislative Chairman
NCISS
7501 Sparrows Point Blvd.
Baltimore, Maryland 21219-1927
(800) 445-8408 . Fax: (410) 388-9746
www.NCISS.org |
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