government affairs
By Alexandra Adair
ACA Opens New Home on Capitol Hill
ACA members gathered in D.C. for a fly-in and the grand opening of ACA’s federal government affairs office
ACA International’s federal government affairs office in Washington, D.C., hosted
ACA members and members of
Congress for a grand opening reception
and open house in conjunction with a
Washington, D.C., Fly-In Sept. 30-
Oct. 1, 2009.
Grand Opening
The grand opening ceremony began
with a ribbon cutting outside the
building led by ACA President Karolyn
Rubin. In her address to ACA members
who gathered to mark the historic
occasion, Rubin said, “All of that effort,
all of those years of hard work by too
many ACA members to count, has led
us to these steps outside ACA
International’s brand new federal
government affairs office here in
Washington, D.C. I’m proud to say that
as the leading trade association for the
credit and collection industry, the
members of ACA International now
have a permanent presence on Capitol
Hill.”
Following the ribbon cutting
ceremony, ACA members and invited
36 I November 2009 Collector
guests enjoyed a reception inside. The
building proved to be very
accommodating for the open house
event, and attendees commented on the
convenient location and the
indisputable advantages of having a
home base right in the heart of Capitol
Hill.
Fall Fly-In
During the fly-in portion of the
week’s festivities, 34 ACA members hit
Capitol Hill and met with 51 members
of Congress and their staff to discuss
issues critical to the credit and
collection industry, specifically: reforms
to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act;
proposed legislation to improve debt
media; student loans; the Telephone
Consumer Financial Protection Act;
and the proposed creation of the
Consumer Financial Protection Agency
(CFPA).
Of all the issues covered during the
fly-in, the newest on the docket was the
proposed CFPA, currently being
championed by House Financial
Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-
Mass.). ACA’s government affairs staff
has been monitoring
this issue closely since
last spring, and ACA’s
Immediate Past
President Jay
Gonsalves, a
constituent of Frank’s,
joined ACA staff in
meeting with the
chairman to lay out
problems with the
CFPA and ACA’s vision
of how it could be
modified to better fit
the collection industry.
Every meeting
attended by ACA members marked a
critical step forward in building and
maintaining invaluable relationships
with congressional offices and provided
the opportunity to communicate directly
with a wide array of lawmakers.
ACA’s member participants—
including all five members of the
Executive Committee, five Legislative
Council members and two ACPAC
Committee members—reacted very
positively to the fly-in meetings and
highlighted the significance of meeting
with lawmakers who stand at the helm
of creating the legislation that will
directly affect the day-to-day business
operations of ACA members.
When it comes to advocacy, nothing
is more valuable than constituents
meeting with their legislators.
Washington, D.C., Fly-In participants
representing 18 states succeeded in
reaching members of Congress and were
able to share the industry position on
critical issues because these legislators
recognize the significance of the credit
and collection agencies in their
communities.
ACA’s government affairs staff hopes
future fly-ins continue to attract
members from a broad representation of
states and congressional districts.
“During the fly-in, I had the
opportunity to meet with the senators
from Illinois and their key staffers on
financial issues,” said Debra Ciskey of
Afni Inc. in Bloomington, Ill. “By
visiting lawmakers in Washington as a
constituent, I am able to make the
connection between federal policy and
jobs in my home state of Illinois. I plan
to work with ACA’s staff to continue to
build upon these relationships to
advocate on behalf of the credit and
collection industry because I believe
