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H0179..............................................................by BUSINESS COLLECTION AGENCY - Amends existing law to exempt from the requirements of the collection agency licensing law those persons who are affiliates of the creditor. 02/06 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing 02/07 Rpt prt - to Bus 02/12 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg 02/13 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg 02/17 3rd rdg - PASSED - 70-0-0 AYES -- Andersen, Barraclough, Barrett, Bauer, Bedke, Bell, Bieter, Black, Block, Boe, Bolz, Bradford, Campbell, Cannon, Clark, Collins, Crow, Cuddy, Deal, Denney, Douglas, Eberle, Edmunson, Ellsworth, Eskridge, Field(18), Field(23), Gagner, Garrett, Harwood, Henbest, Jaquet, Jones, Kellogg, Kulczyk, Lake, Langford, Langhorst, Martinez, McGeachin, McKague, Meyer, Miller, Mitchell, Moyle, Naccarato, Nielsen, Raybould, Ridinger, Ring, Ringo, Roberts, Robison, Rydalch, Sali, Sayler, Schaefer(Schaefer), Shepherd, Shirley, Skippen, Smith(30), Smith(24), Smylie, Snodgrass, Stevenson, Tilman, Trail, Wills, Wood, Mr. Speaker NAYS -- None Absent and excused -- None Floor Sponsor - Collins Title apvd - to Senate 02/18 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to Com/HuRes 03/05 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg 03/06 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg 03/11 3rd rdg - PASSED - 35-0-0 AYES -- Andreason, Bailey, Brandt, Bunderson, Burkett, Burtenshaw, Calabretta, Cameron, Compton, Darrington, Davis, Gannon, Geddes, Goedde, Hill, Ingram, Kennedy, Keough, Little, Lodge, Malepeai, Marley, McKenzie, McWilliams, Noble, Noh, Pearce, Richardson, Schroeder, Sorensen, Stegner, Stennett, Sweet, Werk, Williams NAYS -- None Absent and excused -- None Floor Sponsor - Malepeai Title apvd - to House 03/12 To enrol 03/13 Rpt enrol - Sp signed 03/14 Pres signed 03/17 To Governor 03/21 Governor signed Session Law Chapter 112 Effective: 07/01/03
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO |||| Fifty-seventh Legislature First Regular Session - 2003IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOUSE BILL NO. 179 BY BUSINESS COMMITTEE 1 AN ACT 2 RELATING TO COLLECTION AGENCIES; AMENDING SECTION 26-2239, IDAHO CODE, TO 3 EXEMPT FROM LICENSING REQUIREMENTS PERSONS WHO ARE AFFILIATES OF THE CRED- 4 ITOR. 5 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho: 6 SECTION 1. That Section 26-2239, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 7 amended to read as follows: 8 26-2239. EXEMPTIONS. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to 9 the following: 10 (1) Any attorney-at-law duly authorized to practice in this state; 11 (2) Any regulated lender as defined in section 28-41-301(37), Idaho Code, 12 nor any subsidiary, affiliate or agent of such a regulated lender to the 13 extent that the subsidiary, affiliate or agent collects for the regulated 14 lender; 15 (3) Any trust company authorized to do business in this state; 16 (4) Any federal, state or local governmental agency or instrumentality; 17 (5) Any real estate broker or real estate salesman licensed under the 18 laws of and residing within this state when engaged in the regular practice of 19 a real estate business; 20 (6) Any abstract and title companies doing an escrow business; 21 (7) Any mortgage company to the extent that such mortgage company is 22 engaged in the regular business of a mortgage company as defined in section 23 26-2802, Idaho Code; 24 (8) Any court appointed trustee, receiver or conservator; 25 (9) Any telephone corporation, as defined in subsection (10) of section 26 62-603, Idaho Code, whose initial request for payment on behalf of such tele- 27 phone corporation or on behalf of another person is made by the telephone cor- 28 poration as a part of regular telecommunications billings to its customers and 29 at a time before the account, bill, claim or other indebtedness becomes past 30 due or delinquent; 31 (10) A person while acting as a debt collector for another person, both of 32 whom are related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control, if 33 the person acting as a debt collector does so only for persons to whom he is 34 so related or affiliated and if the principal business of such person is not 35 the collection of debts.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE RS 12771 This proposed legislation would add a new subsection (10) to Section 26-2239, Idaho Code, to create an exemption for affiliates of creditors and other companies that service creditors' accounts and do not operate or hold themselves out as third party collection agencies. In addition, this legislation would amend Idaho's law so that it is parallel with the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Enacted before the advent of "outsourcing" credit operations to an affiliate, the current Idaho law does not include an exception for affiliates of a creditor. The collection activity of these affiliates is only incidental to the wide range of activities related to their servicing of the account, such as billing and remittance processing. The change to the current law is being proposed to keep pace with the changing business environment by appropriately eliminating the burdensome licensing, bonding and trust account requirements for affiliated companies that do not hold themselves out as collection agencies. In addition, compliance with the existing law by an affiliate of a creditor could actually be misleading to consumers and subject the creditor to liability. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act specifically prohibits a creditor from giving the false impression that a third party is collecting its debts. Yet, Idaho's existing law would require an affiliate licensee to contact the debtor in the affiliate licensee's "true" name. FISCAL IMPACT The fiscal impact from exams and annual licensing fees that are credited to the finance administrative account in the state dedicated fund is not expected to exceed $2,000 at the maximum. Contact: Pam Eaton Idaho Retailers Association 208-342-0010 x2 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE H 17