Fair Credit Reporting Act Amendment

Floor Speech

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Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in support to H.R. 3763, to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide for an exclusion from Red Flag Guidelines for certain businesses. This bill is a bipartisan, common-sense approach to protecting our nation's small businesses from needless, burdensome government regulation. This legislation would exempt certain businesses, including health providers, from complying with the Red Flags Rule, which requires financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement a written identity theft program.

The bill recognizes that many of our nation's small businesses, particularly health providers, are not financial institutions and therefore do not present the same level of risk as financial institutions in cases of identity theft. In fact, many of these medical and dental offices were considered creditors under the rule simply because of the fact that they are willing to work with patients on developing flexible payment plans for those patients that can't afford to pay at the time of service. Thus, this rule actually appeared to discourage efforts to improve access to care for people who can't afford to pay, which runs contrary to all of Congress's efforts, on both sides of the aisle, to improve our health system.

When Congress expressed those concerns to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), they delayed the implementation of the rule twice, in April and again in August, as they worked with providers and other small businesses in an effort to minimize the burdens of compliance and address their concerns with the program. I would like to recognize and thank the FTC for their efforts. However, as this bill demonstrates, Congress believes that entities such as health providers, accountants and others were never meant to be included in the definition of creditor. This legislation is an appropriate next step to better defining who is a creditor and protecting our small businesses from needless costs and regulations.

I would like to thank Chairman Frank and Ranking Member Bacchus for working with us to craft a balanced bill to address all parties' concerns. In addition, I would like to thank Congressman Adler and Congressman Broun--I have greatly enjoyed working with you on this legislation. In addition, 1 would like to thank tile FTC for their willingness to work with us to address the concerns of medical providers and small businesses alike. They have been a true partner in this process, and I would like to recognize their efforts to address our concerns with this rule.

Mr. Speaker, during these difficult economic times, it is more important than ever that government push forward legislation to promote small businesses in America. In addition, we should be working with America's dentists and doctors to promote policies that improve access to care instead of burdening them with unnecessary rules and compliance measures. This legislation does exactly that.

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