Attorney General Dana Nessel warned Monday that Michigan consumers would be left without protections if the administration of President Donald Trump is successful in gutting the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Because court rulings in 1999 and 2007 significantly restricted the state’s ability to defend consumers from deception and price gouging under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, Nessel said Michigan residents are reliant on the federal investigators at the CFPB.
“Unfortunately, my office can now no longer rely upon this once dependable and powerful partner to protect Michigan consumers,” Nessel said. “Their decision to strangle the CFPB has a particularly pernicious impact for Michigan consumers, who don’t have the same state-level consumer protections that their neighbor states do.”
Nessel is one of nearly two dozen state attorneys general who filed amicus briefs last month asking a federal judge to block the Trump administration from defunding the CFPB after the administration told employees to stay at home and refrain from doing any work.
According to a report released by the Center for American Progress in 2023, the CFPB took action on more than 90,000 complaints from Michigan residents.
Former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, who Trump fired in February, said at the press conference that “the return on investment is a model of government efficiency.”
The agency, which is tasked with overseeing the financial services and products used by everyday Americans, was created after the 2008 collapse of the U.S. banking system.
Chopra warned that dismantling the agency could create the conditions for that to happen again, noting that states do not have as much power to come after big banks.
“Defunding this law enforcement does nothing to protect citizens, and only creates the conditions for another financial crisis,” Chopra said.
He said the agency is essential for coordinating among states and ensuring that any gains for consumers are felt nationwide.
“Federal law enforcement helps get money back for everybody,” Chopra said. “I don’t know if it’s efficient for there to be 50 different lawsuits against those firms or 50 different investigations.”
But Chopra said the dismantling of the CFPB has introduced “new energy” in state governments to strengthen their own consumer protection laws. State Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi) said Democrats in the Michigan Legislature plan to reintroduce a package of bills to restore some powers to the attorney general under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, and a case before the Michigan Supreme Court seeks to overturn the previous rulings that limited the law.
“Everyone is noticing that if federal law enforcement essentially rolls over and plays dead, the states are going to have to flex their muscles to make sure that their own neighborhoods, cities and towns are not harmed,” Chopra said.
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