By: Emily Yu

Between December 9 and 11, 2024, the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) held its annual Capital Forum in Washington, D.C.  State AGs, AGs-elect, AG office staff, and private sector attendees heard from federal executive branch leaders and discussed issues of shared state and national importance.

CFPB Update

During a fireside chat with then-NAAG President Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra spoke about several key regulatory topics, such as increasing scrutiny on data brokers, combatting debanking and ensuring banking access, the importance of continued joint AGs-CFPB prosecution, and emerging issues.  Director Chopra believes upcoming issues of concern include: abusive medical debt collection, preventing hacks and fraud related to video game currencies, and combatting AI-related fraud.  He also discussed recent rulemaking initiatives, such as (1) the CFPB’s December 2024 Proposed Rule, Protecting Americans from Harmful Data Broker Practices (Regulation V), which would ensure that the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s protections are applied to consumer information sold by data brokers; and (2) advance notice of proposed rulemaking, Fair Credit Reporting Act (Regulation V); Identity Theft and Coerced Debt, which pertains to a proposed rule that would allow survivors of domestic violence to assert rights under identity theft laws to address accounts or loans for which they may have been forced to sign up.

Presidential Initiative Spotlight – America’s Youth: AGs Looking Out for the Next Generation

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy gave a keynote speech on then-NAAG President Rosenblum’s presidential initiative topic, “America’s Youth: AGs Looking Out for the Next Generation.”  AG Rosenblum and General Murthy discussed promoting mental health awareness for young people on social media platforms and General Murthy stressed the importance of peer discussions.  They also discussed social media platform warning labels, and General Murthy mentioned legislation recently sponsored by California AG Rob Bonta.

Securing the Future: A Conversation with Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly on U.S. Cybersecurity

Arkansas AG Tim Griffin, Connecticut AG William Tong, and CISA Director Jen Easterly focused their panel on what companies can do to improve cybersecurity, for themselves and for consumers.  Director Easterly mentioned a couple of initiatives through which CISA has worked with the private sector to address national security: (1) the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative through which companies work with CISA to address foreign threats and security risks to consumers, and (2) CISA’s Secure by Design initiative through which companies sign a voluntary agreement to take material steps to drive down risks for consumers in their products.

AGs-Elect and New NAAG President Take the Lead

Current AGs moderated panels at the Forum but incoming AGs were equally engaged, asking questions to speakers about best practices regarding youth use of technology and social media, and inquiring about potential outcomes of important U.S. Supreme Court cases to be decided in the upcoming term.  On the third and last day of the Forum, New Hampshire AG John Formella began his term as NAAG President.  He announced his presidential initiative, “Building on the Opioid Litigation Success: AGs Leading the Fight Against Substance Abuse and Drug Trafficking.”  He detailed that his initiative will focus on: (1) supporting state and local law enforcement; (2) partnership between AGs and the federal government to address treatment, intervention, recovery, and the intersection of the substance abuse and mental health crises; (3) promoting dialogue about the criminal justice system; and (4) creating statewide coordination strategies between local, state, and federal law enforcement.

Takeaways

In summary, conversations at the 2024 NAAG Capital Forum highlighted a variety of pressing issues for federal regulators and AGs’ offices that centered on technology and consumer data.  Businesses that use or handle emerging technologies and consumer data should continue to have, or begin having, conversations internally and with AGs’ offices in anticipation of ongoing AG interest in these areas.