In This Issue
Greetings!

The  month of May involved activity on several fronts, including standing up the "advocacy hub" on the NCISS website, the submission of comments on the proposed "Net Neutrality" rule, the long-awaited FTC report on Data Brokers, and Lobbyit;s participation in Francie's "PI Unclassified" webcast and Advocacy Hub rollout.

Legislation
S 1737/HR 1010
- Minimum Wage Fairness Act, Harkin (D-La). S 1737 was introduced on 11/19/13 and placed on the Senate Legislative calendar (bypassing committee).

The bill would provide for an increase in the federal minimum wage progressively from $8.20/hr for the first 6 months, $9.15/hr six months later, then $10.10/hr the following year.

Many NCISS member security companies would be harmed by an increased minimum wage requirement, and would be forced to curtail the number of jobs offered.

HR.1755/S. 815
- Employment Non Discrimination Act of 2013 (ENDA), Sen. Merkley (D-WV) S. 815 passed the Senate and is under consideration in the House, where it was referred to five separate committees.

This legislation would ban employers from firing, refusing to hire or discriminating against workers or job applicants based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

ENDA would make it increasingly difficult and expensive to terminate problem employees, offering them another path for vexatious litigation.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) -- The "Ambush" Rule

On March 11, 2014, the NLRB proposed new regulations that would radically change the process for union representation elections, effectively shortening election time frames and limiting employees' opportunity to hear from employers before making a crucial workplace decision. The shorter the election, the less time employers and employees have to communicate about the impact of unionization or about a specific union attempting to organize the workplace.

The proposed rule is based on a false premise, violates employer speech rights, and denies employees the ability to make an informed decision about representation.

S. 2025
"The Data Broker Accountability and Transparency Act," by Sen. Rockefeller (D-WV).

S. 2025 contains a prohibition of "pretexting" by data brokers, prohibiting "obtaining or solicitation to obtain personal information by false pretenses." While it is unclear if the definition of data broker would extend to PIs, prohibiting the use of pretexting by PIs would deprive them of a valuable and necessary tool.

Using false pretenses to acquire information for illegal purposes is already itself illegal. PIs use a variety of "benign" pretexts to gather information or identify individuals for numerous legitimate reasons, including identifying "deadbeat" parents, locating debtors, finding defense witnesses, investigating fraud, locating hidden assets and ill-gotten gains, etc.

Congress must insure that private investigators are not swept into the definition of data brokers, and should include a specific statutory exemption.

HR 1312/S 639
"The Geological Privacy and Surveillance Act," by Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). The legislation would require consent of the subject when using of GPS technology for tracking individuals.

NCISS opposes the legislation. The use of the devices for surveillance significantly reduces accident risk during lawful surveillance. 

HR 645
"Equal Employment for All Act," by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN.) Would prohibit current or prospective employers from using a consumer credit report for either employment purposes or for taking adverse employment actions.



Stakeholder Activity
Net Neutrality

 

In response to a proposed rule by the Federal Communications Commission, Lobbyit worked with NCISS to draft and submit a formal comment, opposing the proposed rule.

 

NCISS's comment is as follows:

 

NCISS is a trade association representing private investigators and private security service companies from across the United States.  NCISS is comprised 1000 members, the majority of which are private investigators located in every State of our Union.  Together with security service providers, NCISS represents well in excess of 100,000 security and investigative professionals, who generate over $2.5 billion in economic activity per annum.

 

Private investigators are an integral component of the legal system. For private investigators, access to information is the key to our operation and success, and undoubtedly, the internet is the overwhelmingly preferred avenue for obtaining a wide variety of crucial information.  Whether tracking lost heirs, searching for missing or abducted children, uncovering hidden assets, locating witnesses for civil or criminal matters, conducting due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, or proving financial crimes or instances of fraud, private investigators  rely on the internet for timely access to information.  With so many government entities and agencies, from the townships and villages to the state and Federal levels, making the majority of information publicly available on the internet, The FCC cannot (even if inadvertently) restrict the ability of private citizens to access such information by allowing the bifurcation of the internet and relegating such non-commercial sites and pursuits to second-class status.  To do so would doom our ability to act quickly and accurately, often when human life is at stake.

 

Please do not take regulatory action which would allow for "tiered" services on the internet, allowing providers to increase speeds for preferred customers.  Internet users who do not have the commercial clout to pay more for enhanced service could ultimately pay a steep price for the change as providers who see less commercial benefit from such users deny them crucial technological advances.  We do not believe this result is inconceivable, and in fact believe it would be likely in the long run as providers seek to maximize their profits and focus more on developing technology and improving services for those simply with the ability to pay more.

 

For private investigators, the vast majority of whom are small businesses or solo practitioners, such a change could be fatal to our ability to access critical information.  We respectfully ask that you preserve true equality in internet services for all users, and not let large commercial operations gain an unfair advantage. 

 

PIs Declassified

 Keith Nelson of Lobbyit participated in Francie Koehler's "PIs Declassified"webcast, discussing the rollout, functioning and benefit of state-level legislative tracking via NCISS's "Advocacy Hub" on the association website www.nciss.org within the Legislative link, 

 

Advocacy Hub

 

Lobbyit worked with NCISS to stand up the "Advocacy Hub" on the NCISS website, including a link to an interactive map of state-level legislation important to NCISS members.  NCISS members may now click into the advocacy hub and assess legislative activity in their home state.  Lobbyit will be working with NCISS in the coming weeks to identify state-level legislation appropriate for member outreach and advocacy.

 

FTC Data Brokers Report

 

*              *On May 27, the FTC released its long awaited report on the data broker industry. As most stakeholders predicted, the report called on Congress to enact the report's recommendations. The report, "Data Brokers: A Call for Transparency and Accountability," made legislative recommendations based on the three general types of data broker products:

 

 *             Marketing Products: FTC recommends Congress give consumers access to their data and have the ability to opt out of use for marketing purposes. The report suggests the creation of a "centralized portal" where consumers could opt-out and learn what information data brokers have obtained about them. Along with access to data, the report suggests increased consumer notice and disclosure of data collection. 

 

*             Risk Mitigation Products: Risk mitigation products are products designed to give companies insight into whether consumers can afford certain contracts. The FTC recommends legislation that would require companies to disclose the information that prevented a consumer from completing a transaction in the event of a risk mitigation product advising a company not to enter a contract with the consumer. 

 

*             People Search Products: For people search products, the FTC advises legislation allowing consumers to access their information, opt out of use of information, disclose the source of information and disclose any limitations of an opt out.  

 

Legislative Outlook:

 

Although Senator Rlegockefeller put out a statement on the report, there has been no mention of a future hearing on the report or his data broker bill. On the House side, Reps. Joe Barton and Lee Terry (whose committees have privacy jurisdiction) expressed little optimism a data broker bill would advance. A Terry aide confirmed that the Congressman 'doesn't believe that Congress shouldn't act legislatively unless there are identifiable consumer harms and right now the way forward is not clear.' Industry groups pushed back against the report including the Digital Advertising Alliance. FTC Commissioner Brill is "hopeful that there will be a conversation that takes place not only on the Hill, but also within industry itself.'

 

NLRB Ambush Rule


At the same time, Lobbyit drafted NCISS's 12-page comment to the NLRB on their proposed "Ambush" rule, which was submitted to NLRB in early April prior to the closure of the comment period.

State Legislative Tracking

Lobbyit also set up NCISS's "state-level" tracking, identifying over 150 bills in 35 states.  To view bills impacting private investigators, private patrol operators, or security guards bills in your state, go to NCISS Advocacy Hub / State Legislation and either search alphabetically by State or click on your state on the United States map provided at the top of the page. If your state is not listed, it means that either your state was either not in session or there were no bills introduced that met our search parameters. If you know of a bill in your state that we need to become aware, please contact one of the following NCISS Legislative Chairs:







Until next month,

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