Attorney general lays out agenda

By Brad Shannon | The Olympian • Published January 04, 2008

• Documents

• Give more tools to protect consumers facing foreclosure by requiring that self-described "rescue" companies provide written contracts that fully disclose loss-of-home risks to the homeowner and give five days to change one's mind. It also would let the homeowner receive 82 percent of any equity taken by the company if a third party purchased the home.

• Let state employees who are victims of domestic violence or stalking use or borrow "shared leave" from other workers, which they now can do for illnesses.

• Require that consumers opt in, or give clear consent, before a marketing outfit can publish their private cell-phone numbers in a directory. It would set a penalty for violations of up to $50,000.

• Help consumers hit by identify theft by requiring that law enforcement officers take police reports from victims, which lets victims avoid fees when freezing credit accounts. Two other bills would let out-of-state business records be authenticated by affidavit and let prosecutors bring separate charges against an identity thief for each use of stolen information.

• Change a spyware law he got passed in 2005 by lowering the evidence requirement for proving violations, adding violations and creating liability for Web-hosting companies that tolerate or participate in unlawful downloads onto computers.

• Narrow the definition of "blight" in cases of eminent domain, or the taking of private property for public use, and require publication of a pamphlet that explains such takings. The meaning of blight would pertain to specific properties rather than general areas.

• Require that legal damage awards won by incarcerated people be given to the crime victims' compensation fund. McKenna said some inmates are abusing the records law, winning the "public disclosure act lottery." But the one case he cited, which resulted in a $200,000 legal award to a prison newspaper, would not be affected, because the editor, Paul Wright, was out of prison at the time. Nixon said his organization has not taken a position on this bill, but he has strong concerns about it.