Lawmakers in Delaware have introduced legislation – House Bill No. 167 – that would prohibit public employers in the state from considering the criminal record or credit history of an applicant before making a conditional job offer. The bill would also restrict the authority of state and local government agencies to conduct criminal background checks on potential new hires. The full text of House Bill No. 167 is available at http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+167/$file/legis.html?open. (more…)

With Governor Brian Sandoval signing Senate Bill 127 (SB 127) into law, Nevada has now become the tenth state in the U.S. to prohibit employers from conditioning employment on a consumer credit report or other credit information with few exceptions. The full text of Nevada SB 127 – which goes into effect on October 1, 2013 – is available at: http://openstates.org/nv/bills/77/SB127/. (more…)

Governor of Colorado John Hickenlooper has signed into law a bill passed by the Colorado General Assembly – SB13-018, the “Employment Opportunity Act” – that specifies the purposes for which consumer credit information such as consumer credit reports and credit scores can be used by private sector employers or potential employers with four or more employees in making employment-related decisions. More information about the “Employment Opportunity Act”, which takes effect July 1, 2013, is available at http://www.coloradocapitolwatch.com/bill/0/SB13-018/2013/1/. (more…)

Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee-09) has introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives – H.R. 645, the ‘Equal Employment for All Act’ – that would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to prohibit employers from using credit report checks and bankruptcy filings when hiring or making adverse employment decisions. Under H.R. 645, some exceptions allowing the use of credit reports would include jobs requiring security clearance, state or local government jobs, or certain individuals working in the financial industry. The full text of ‘the ‘Equal Employment for All Act’ is available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113hr645ih/pdf/BILLS-113hr645ih.pdf. (more…)

A Federal Trade Commission (FTC) study of accuracy in the U.S. credit reporting industry has found that one in five consumers – an estimated 40 million Americans, according to a ‘60 Minutes’ report on the FTC study – had an error on at least one of their three major credit reports while five percent had significant errors on one of their credit reports that could result in less favorable terms for auto loans and insurance. The full text of the FTC report is available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2013/02/130211factareport.pdf. (more…)