Bass Reintroduces American Spirit Fraud Prevention Act
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 – While Hurricane Katrina prompted an outpouring of American generosity, it also spurred national venality: charity scams and fraudulent solicitations intended to divert money from disaster relief.
Trying to crack down on such cons Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.) this month introduced legislation that would increase the civil penalties for those who commit fraud during times of national emergency.
“When there is more charitable giving going on obviously there is more interest in making sure that there is accountability,” said Bass, who has introduced this bill twice before.
The bill was originally introduced in 2001 in response to fraud problems following the September 11 terrorist attacks. The House passed the bill each time, but the Senate never voted on it.
Only a small number of bills introduced each year are enacted into law: 5,767 bills were introduced in the House of Representatives during the 107 th Congress, when Bass first introduced his legislation, according to congressional records. The House passed 566 of them. Of those, the Senate only passed 307.
During the 108 th Congress, when the bill was reintroduced, 5,432 bills were introduced in the House, of which only 618 passed. Of those the Senate passed only 350.
“Legislation doesn’t always pass on the first try so you have to do it a couple of times,” Bass said. “I feel pretty confident that it will pass the Senate and be signed into law by the President.”
The bill is designed to protect not only those giving to charities, but also to protect consumers from illegal price manipulation, such as inflated gasoline prices, during a time of crisis. It would authorize the Federal Trade Commission to double the current penalties for fraud during times that the president has declared a national emergency, bringing the civil penalty up to $22,000 for each fraudulent action. This increased penalty would apply for up to one year.
“There is more interest on the part of Congress in addressing this issue because there is a pretty good chance that we will hear at some point of some terrible situation where some entity bilked money out of people with good intentions and then got a slap on the wrist from the Federal Trade Commission,” said Bass.
Federal Trade Commission officials have declined to comment on the bill at this point.
Because the legislation would be immediately useful on the Gulf Coast and has had little opposition in the past, it could move quickly through the House.
“My understanding is that it may be up on the floor as early as this week,” Bass said on Tuesday.
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