[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3030 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3030
To establish an Office of Consumer Advocacy and Outreach within the
Federal Trade Commission to protect consumers from certain unfair or
deceptive acts or practices, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 7, 2004
Mr. Nelson of Florida introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish an Office of Consumer Advocacy and Outreach within the
Federal Trade Commission to protect consumers from certain unfair or
deceptive acts or practices, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Trade Commission Consumer
Advocacy Act''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE OF CONSUMER ADVOCACY AND OUTREACH.
There is established within the Federal Trade Commission an Office
of Consumer Advocacy and Outreach.
SEC. 3. PURPOSE OF THE OFFICE OF CONSUMER ADVOCACY AND OUTREACH.
The purpose of the Office of Consumer Advocacy and Outreach is to
protect minority consumers, disabled consumers, and other targeted
consumers from unfair or deceptive acts or practices that violate
section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45).
SEC. 4. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE OFFICE OF CONSUMER ADVOCACY AND
OUTREACH.
The head of the Office of Consumer Advocacy and Outreach shall--
(1) assist law enforcement personnel in--
(A) investigating unfair or deceptive acts or
practices that violate section 5 of the Federal Trade
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) and that affect minority,
disabled, or other targeted consumers; and
(B) increasing the amount of information available
about such acts or practices through the Consumer
Sentinel database system or an equivalent database
system;
(2) provide consumers, including minority, disabled, or
other targeted consumers, information regarding detecting
unfair or deceptive acts or practices;
(3) administer a program that permits individuals to
anonymously report information regarding an unfair or deceptive
act or practice that affects minority, disabled, or other
targeted consumers;
(4) carry out a program to provide a monetary reward to an
individual who reports an unfair or deceptive act or practice
that affects minority, disabled, or other targeted consumers if
such report results in the Federal Trade Commission obtaining a
civil penalty from a person liable for such act or practice;
and
(5) carry out a public awareness campaign in Spanish to
inform Spanish-speaking consumers about the services provided
by the Office and the award program described in paragraph (4).
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