Tech Industry Concerns Allayed in Final Finance Revamp Bill

Tech and Internet companies may well have breathed sighs of relief after learning that financial industry revamp legislation agreed upon Friday by the House and Senate did away with provisions they didn’t like (CED May 24 p6). Several groups said they were especially glad the FTC’s authority would not be expanded. The bill now goes back to the House and Senate for final floor votes.

It appears that the tech community’s concerns were addressed in conference, said a spokeswoman for Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif. Matsui had voiced concerns with the House version’s effect on companies in her state. But Matsui is still reviewing details of the agreement, the spokeswoman said.

"The combined bill does not have the FTC rulemaking authority expansion that we oppose,” said Braden Cox, policy counsel to Net Choice, 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. With all the focus on financial reform, it was difficult to shine light on the FTC’s increased rulemaking powers contained in the House version, Cox said. But the online industry, marketing associations, and many others persevered in persuading House and Senate conferees that expanded FTC powers were unrelated to financial reform, he said.

The combined version is much more focused on financial regulatory reform, said Josh Lamel, a senior vice president at TechAmerica. The tech industry is pleased that the conferees made the correct decision to take the issues of FTC expansion out of the financial revamp legislation, he said. FTC expansion issues deserve their own debate in the more appropriate context of an FTC reauthorization, he said. CEA’s concerns also were resolved because the FTC language didn’t make the final cut, a CEA spokeswoman said.

The House offered the controversial FTC language three times last night, but was repeatedly turned down by the Senate, said Linda Woolley, DMA government affairs executive vice president. The Direct Marketing Association is “pleased” that the Senate conferees rejected the House language, because that provision would have allowed the FTC to govern industries that have “nothing to do” with financial services, she said.

USTelecom’s concerns were resolved, too, a spokeswoman said. USTelecom was worried about some provisions that could have subjected telecom companies to new regulation and enforcement because their customers use telecom service to do business with banks, and because telecom companies bill customers after providing service, a practice that can be construed as a form of credit.