An Act To Provide Relief to Survivors of Economic Abuse
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 10 MRSA §1310-H, sub-§2-A is enacted to read:
2-A. Economic abuse. Notwithstanding any provision of federal law, if a consumer provides documentation to the consumer reporting agency as set forth in Title 14, section 6001, subsection 6, paragraph H that the debt or any portion of the debt is the result of economic abuse as defined in Title 19-A, section 4002, subsection 3-B, the consumer reporting agency shall remove any reference to the debt or any portion of the debt determined to be the result of economic abuse from the consumer's credit report.
Sec. 2. 10 MRSA §1310-H, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 2013, c. 228, §1, is amended to read:
3. Nonliability. A person may not be held liable for any violation of this section if the person shows by a preponderance of the evidence that at the time of the alleged violation the person maintained reasonable procedures to ensure compliance with the provisions of subsections 1 and , 2 and 2-A.
Sec. 3. 19-A MRSA §4002, sub-§3-B is enacted to read:
3-B. Economic abuse. "Economic abuse" means causing or attempting to cause an individual to be financially dependent by maintaining control over the individual's financial resources, including, but not limited to, unauthorized use of credit or property, withholding access to money or credit cards, forbidding attendance at school or employment, stealing from or defrauding of money or assets, exploiting the individual's resources for personal gain of the defendant or withholding physical resources such as food, clothing, necessary medications or shelter.
Sec. 4. 19-A MRSA §4007, sub-§1, ¶K-1 is enacted to read:
K-1. Ordering payment of monetary compensation to the abused person for losses resulting from economic abuse. Upon motion of either party, for sufficient cause, the court may set a later hearing on the issue of the amount of compensation, if any, to be awarded;
Sec. 5. 32 MRSA §11014, sub-§2-A is enacted to read:
2-A. Economic abuse. If the consumer provides documentation to the debt collector as set forth in Title 14, section 6001, subsection 6, paragraph H that the debt or any portion of the debt is the result of economic abuse as defined in Title 19-A, section 4002, subsection 3-B, the debt collector shall cease collection of the debt or any disputed portion of the debt owed by the consumer subjected to economic abuse.
summary
This bill defines economic abuse in the context of protection from abuse and provides for the court to order compensation for losses resulting from the economic abuse. The bill also provides for an economic abuse survivor to be protected from debt collection and for the economic abuse survivor's credit to be repaired.