The Ferguson File - August 2015

Dear Friends,

July was a month of exciting news for our state. A federal appeals court agreed pharmacies must follow state laws in dispensing all lawful prescriptions, which was an important win in our fight to give patients safe and timely access to their medication.

We stepped up our efforts to empower consumers by signing on to a letter asking telecommunications companies to give them access to technology that can block annoying robocalls before they happen.

We also had great news on agricultural wages and debt collection reform, and I enjoyed a visit to our friends on the Peninsula.

In this issue:

Many of us know the frustration all too well. Somehow it usually comes at the busiest possible moment, too. You pick up the phone and instead a person, you get an unwanted, pre-recorded robocall.

My office is always working to stop callers who break the law with this technology, but phone companies already have the technology to stop these calls before they happen.

After my colleagues across the country and I wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, it recently issued a ruling clarifying that telecommunications companies can offer these services to their customers.

That’s why I once again joined together with 44 other attorneys general across the country to ask AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and CenturyLink to do just that. It’s time to put the power in consumers’ hands.

Seattle P-I

45 attorneys general call on phone carriers to offer call-blocking technology to customers

Reuters (via CNBC)

U.S. states tell phone companies: Stop robocalls

It’s always wonderful to get out of the office and visit people around the state. Sequim and Port Angeles are very special to me and my family — I proposed to my beautiful wife Colleen on Dungeness Spit — and it was great to spend a couple days there this month.

I met with the Rotary groups, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, the Sequim Gazette and the Peninsula Daily News. To find out more about some of the issues we talked about, click the links below. 

Peninsula Daily News

State attorney general talks of protecting youth from electronic cigarettes, marijuana during Peninsula visit

Sequim Gazette

From health care to pot, AG weighs in on local impact

Our state guarantees paid breaks for workers. But workers paid based on their task, rather than their time, haven’t always enjoyed this benefit the way many of us have.

The state Supreme Court this month agreed with my “friend of the court” brief that agricultural workers paid by how much they pick are still entitled to paid breaks.

I’m glad that these workers, who often do difficult work for low pay, will not be denied this right just because of the way they’re compensated.

Associated Press (via KOMO)

State Supreme Court: Farmworkers entitled to break pay

After a joint state-federal investigation, Chase Bank and Chase Bankcard Services will stop their unlawful debt collection practices. We found these practices stacked the deck against the consumer by pursuing their collections based on false information.

Sometimes the debt was listed in the wrong amount, connected to the wrong person, discharged or time-barred — what’s known as “zombie debt.”

Our state was a leader in this investigation from 2009 to 2014. Because of this work, Chase will stop collection on 528,000 accounts nationwide, 7,000 of which are in Washington, and pay $50 million in restitution, of which $552,000 will go to 340 Washingtonians.

It also agreed to reform its collection practices. Importantly, Chase will now prohibit companies that buy debt from Chase from re-selling it. This will help prevent the errors that can come up transmitting data to buyer after buyer.

Seattle P-I

Federal, state regulators stop Chase’s illegal debt collection practices

The New York Times blog

Calling Off the Credit-Card Debt Collectors