Tech Groups Say Senate Financial Revamp Bill Beats House Version

Tech and advertising groups prefer the Senate financial overhaul bill passed late Thursday to the House version, they said Friday. The groups have voiced concerns about the FTC expansion envisioned by the House bill, among other things (CED May 5 p5). But so far, few Capitol Hill legislators have commented directly on the tech community’s concerns.

Democratic leaders hope to finish combining the House and Senate bills by the July 4 recess, Hill staffers said. The Senate likely will appoint conferees Monday, said one staffer. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., is “reviewing the Senate bill and the changes from the House bill, and is hopeful” the tech companies’ concerns “will be resolved in conference,” said a Matsui spokeswoman.

Few other legislators are talking about the concerns. House Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., hasn’t had the opportunity to review the two bills’ possible impact, and hasn’t been approached by any tech companies with concerns, said a Boucher spokeswoman. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., whose district includes Silicon Valley, said earlier this month she hadn’t heard any major complaints. Other Hill offices we contacted Friday, including those of the bills’ authors Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., didn’t comment by our deadline.

The Senate bill doesn’t have language that presents concerns to broadcasters, said a broadcasting industry official. However, the House bill that passed has language that could make broadcasters and cable operators liable for civil penalties if they air ads that are found to be deceptive, the official said.

NetChoice likes that the Senate bill retains the FTC’s current level of authority, said Braden Cox, policy counsel of NetChoice, a coalition backed by companies like Yahoo, Time Warner and eBay and groups like the Internet Alliance, Association for Competitive Technology and Electronic Retailing Association. The Senate bill included an amendment by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, providing joint oversight authority over financial products to the FTC and a proposed new agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “We did not oppose this amendment,” Cox said.

Online companies are still worried about the House bill, which gives the FTC broad rulemaking powers over all industries, Cox said. “In conference, the Senate should not defer to the House and ought to instead insist that any new FTC powers be thoroughly vetted in a new bill,” he said.

The Association of National Advertisers supports the Senate bill, it said Friday. The group is backed by major national telecom operators and manufacturers, media companies and tech companies. “We are hearing from Democratic leadership, however, that it is possible that there will be an agreement between the White House, Chairmen Dodd and Frank, and the Democratic leadership to craft a compromise bill to be voted on for final passage,” the group said. “Either way, we are continuing our strategy of leaning on the Blue Dog Democrats and the leadership to support the Senate FTC provisions,” it said.

ANA backs the Rockefeller/Hutchison amendment in the Senate bill, it said. In a recent letter to Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., ANA urged the House Democratic leadership to remove expanded rulemaking authority for the FTC included in the House bill. There are several provisions in the House bill that have nothing to do with financial services reform, said Daniel Jaffe, ANA executive vice president, in the letter. These changes would repeal the current Magnuson-Moss rulemaking procedures, including the requirement that an activity be “prevalent” in an industry before the FTC can write a rule, he said. They would give the FTC the power to immediately impose multi-million dollar civil penalties independent of the Justice Department, he said.

The Direct Marketing Association is pleased that, although the Senate has passed a far-reaching bill that will affect “virtually every aspect of the financial industry,” the bill doesn’t include the expansion of the FTC’s rulemaking power, the trade group said. The Senate chose only to preserve FTC’s authority over the marketing of financial services and products, DMA Executive Vice President of Government Affairs Linda Woolley said. “Unfortunately, the House bill contains the FTC expansion language,” she said. DMA will be working with its coalitions of more than 50 trade associations to see that the Senate language prevails in the conference committee bill, she said.