Key Takeaways from the National Association of Attorneys General 2024 Capital Forum

Beginning on December 9, 2024, the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) held its three-day Capital Forum in Washington, D.C. Throughout the forum, attorneys general, their senior staff, federal officials, and other subject matter experts presented on a series of topics addressing important policy issues and the latest legal developments. Although the panels addressed a diverse set of topics, the main theme of the forum followed Oregon Attorney General and NAAG President Ellen Rosenblum’s presidential initiative titled “America’s Youth: AGs Looking Out for the Next Generation.”

CFPB Update

For the first session of the forum, Attorney General and NAAG President Ellen Rosenblum sat down with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra to provide an update on the CFPB. Director Chopra highlighted updates in the areas of data brokerage, digital payment apps, student debt, and financial abuse.

Data Brokerage – The data broker industry collects and sells detailed information about individuals including about their financial circumstances. Earlier this month, the CFPB proposed a rule requiring data brokers that sell sensitive personal and financial information to follow the same standards as credit bureaus, including complying with accuracy requirements, providing consumers with access to their information, and maintaining safeguards against misuse.

Digital Payment Apps – Despite their crucial role in the market, many digital fund transfer and payment wallet apps are not subject to CFPB supervisory examinations. This changed in November of this year when the CFPB finalized a rule enabling it to start supervising companies in key areas including privacy and surveillance, errors, fraud, and “debanking.”

Student Debt – In September 2024, the CFPB banned Navient Corporation from servicing any federal student loans and from buying additional federal student loan debt from other loan holders and ordered it to pay a $20 million penalty and $100 million in redress for harmed borrowers. The CFPB action was based on findings that Navient had for years steered student loan borrowers into costly repayment options and deprived student borrowers of opportunities to enroll in more affordable income-driven repayment plans.  Importantly, this decision was also deemed necessary given Navient’s $1.85 billion settlement in 2022 with several state attorneys general for engaging in similar unfair practices.

Financial Abuse – The CFPB recently launched rulemaking to address the harmful effects of inaccurate credit reporting affecting survivors of domestic violence, elder abuse, and other forms of financial abuse.

Director Chopra also noted some issues to watch in the coming year, including virtual video game currency transactions targeting children, artificial intelligence fraud, and algorithmic increases in housing costs. Finally, Director Chopra highlighted recent CFPB successes of prosecuting matters alongside various state attorneys general. He encouraged other attorneys general to consider the partnership for future prosecutions.

Cyber and Technology

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong led a discussion with the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Jen Easterly. Director Easterly shared her expertise and insights on a host of topics, including the nation’s current cybersecurity posture, the evolving threat landscape, and fostering a secure tech ecosystem.

Director Easterly spoke about concerns surrounding the Chinese-affiliated threat group Volt Typhoon, whose goal is to “induce societal panic.” She explained that we are experiencing a shift from viewing China as a threat to espionage and theft, to a threat on our infrastructure.

Director Easterly also discussed how partnerships between lawmakers and private companies can help protect consumers against cyber-attacks. Our cyber networks were not created with the intent to prioritize safety and security. CISA’s active campaign, Secure By Design, focuses on shifting the burden to software designers to drive down exploitable vulnerabilities. 

Protecting Consumers, Charitable Donors, and the Charitable Sector from Fraud

The District of Columbia attorney general and the South Carolina attorney general led a discussion about the vital role attorneys general serve in protecting consumers from bad actors operating charities fraudulently or in derogation of their public obligations. The subject matter experts on the panel stressed that the work of attorneys general is also critical to safeguard the charitable sector, which provides vital resources to help fund life-saving and life-changing support and services throughout the country. The panelists highlighted how attorneys general can utilize their general oversight authority of charitable organizations and assets to identify and prevent deceptive fundraising practices and other illegal acts through civil and criminal enforcement. As examples, state attorneys general have the authority to investigate misappropriation of charitable funds, breaches of fiduciary duty by directors and officers, and fraud in charitable solicitation.

Presidential Initiative Spotlight – America’s Youth: AGs Looking Out for the Next Generation

The Surgeon General of United States, Vivek Murthy, joined Attorney General Rosenblum for a conversation addressing the use of social media by children and teens and the effects of social media on their mental health.  This year, Surgeon General Murthy recommended to Congress that recurring warnings be placed on social media apps to alert parents and children of their potential harms. Surgeon General Murthy stated that the federal government could use the help of state attorneys general for enforcement of relevant state laws and data transparency. He stressed that data transparency is particularly important to ensure that app restrictions and other initiatives are not merely “well-intended measures” that do not actually work.

Keynote Address with Jonathan Haidt, Author of The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

As part of Attorney General Rosenblum’s NAAG presidential initiative, social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt delivered the forum’s keynote address with a discussion of his book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Haidt put it simply: children’s brains around a phone are like overgrown tree roots on a sidewalk. Anxiety and depression are rampant among our youth, especially girls. In his study, Haidt reported that in surveys of teen girls aged 12-17, a third of them reported major depression within the last year. Haidt found that, unaffected by COVID-19, all age groups of children and teens are spending less time on a daily average with friends. Haidt identified four foundational harms to smartphone use among children and teens: social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and behavioral addiction.

Haidt opined that a complete withdrawal from smartphone usage is not the solution and offered a number of other solutions including providing young children with a non-multifunction device, like a flip phone and putting limits on cellphone usage.

Other panel topics included an ethics discussion with attorneys general who are military veterans, a discussion on pharmacy benefit managers, and updates on the U.S. Supreme Court, the Bureau of Prisons, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

NAAG Plans for 2025 and Beyond

Looking into 2025, the incoming NAAG president is New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella. Attorney General Formella announced at this year’s forum that his presidential initiative will focus on substance abuse and drug trafficking. NAAG recently announced that Connecticut Attorney General William Tong is the new president-elect of the Association.