[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2436 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2436

  To establish an Office of Consumer Advocacy and Outreach within the 
 Federal Trade Commission to protect consumers from certain unfair or 
          deceptive acts or practices, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

               March 16 (legislative day, March 15), 2006

  Mr. Nelson of Florida (for himself and Mr. Menendez) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                 Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish an Office of Consumer Advocacy and Outreach within the 
 Federal Trade Commission to protect consumers from certain unfair or 
          deceptive acts or practices, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Trade Commission Consumer 
Advocacy Act''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE OF CONSUMER ADVOCACY AND OUTREACH.

    There is established within the Federal Trade Commission an Office 
of Consumer Advocacy and Outreach.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE OF THE OFFICE OF CONSUMER ADVOCACY AND OUTREACH.

    The purpose of the Office of Consumer Advocacy and Outreach is to 
protect minority consumers, disabled consumers, and other targeted 
consumers from unfair or deceptive acts or practices that violate 
section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45).

SEC. 4. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE OFFICE OF CONSUMER ADVOCACY AND 
              OUTREACH.

    The head of the Office of Consumer Advocacy and Outreach shall--
            (1) assist law enforcement personnel in--
                    (A) investigating unfair or deceptive acts or 
                practices that violate section 5 of the Federal Trade 
                Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) and that affect minority, 
                disabled, or other targeted consumers; and
                    (B) increasing the amount of information available 
                about such acts or practices through the Consumer 
                Sentinel database system or an equivalent database 
                system;
            (2) provide consumers, including minority, disabled, or 
        other targeted consumers, information regarding detecting 
        unfair or deceptive acts or practices;
            (3) administer a program that permits individuals to 
        anonymously report information regarding an unfair or deceptive 
        act or practice that affects minority, disabled, or other 
        targeted consumers;
            (4) carry out a program to provide a monetary reward to an 
        individual who reports an unfair or deceptive act or practice 
        that affects minority, disabled, or other targeted consumers if 
        such report results in the Federal Trade Commission obtaining a 
        civil penalty from a person liable for such act or practice; 
        and
            (5) carry out a public awareness campaign in Spanish to 
        inform Spanish-speaking consumers about the services provided 
        by the Office and the award program described in paragraph (4).
                                 <all>