Sunday, July 13, 2014

Courts? We don't need no stinkin' courts!-------EPA Regulators Gone Wild

EPA Regulators Gone Wild:
Following the revelation that the Environmental Protection Agency plans to garnish wages without a court order to collect non-tax debts (i.e. misused grant funds, unrepaid loans or “fines, penalties or fees assessed by federal agencies”), the EPA has sought to defend its proposed rules.

The agency cites The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA) as its authority for these rules and called it proposed rule “noncontroversial.”
It is curious that the agency tucked these rules into the Federal Register as everyone was headed out for the July 4th vacation.

In a Politico story, part of defense offered by EPA was that it had to put these rules forward as “the same Treasury guidelines apply to all federal agencies that refer delinquent non-tax debts to Treasury for Collection.” 
This is not reassuring. 
If correct, this means we can soon expect similar rules to garnish wages without a court order from other agencies that have the power to fine citizens. 
Are such rules in the pipeline for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Occupational Health and Safety Administration, and the Bureau of Land Management?

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