Comply or Pay, EPA Wage Garnishment

2014-07-12T12:22:30-04:00

A proposed regulation by the EPA would give the agency the ability to garnish wages without court approval.

Prior to the enactment of the DCIA, Debt Collection Improvement Act of the 1996, Federal agencies were required to obtain a court judgment before garnishing non-Federal wages.

If they are allowed to garnish wages without a court judgement, I have to ask, what happened to the citizens' rights?

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-OA-2014-0012-0002

Regulations.gov

Response by CW2 Jonathan Kantor made Jul 12 at 2014 5:31 PM

2014-07-12T17:31:00-04:00

This doesn't make any sense... that's basically stealing. The court process is there to protect the citizens from stuff like this. I don't even understand what the EPA is doing with this at all... Where did this come from?

Response by COL Randall C. made Jul 12 at 2014 9:54 PM

2014-07-12T21:54:11-04:00

Cpl Private RallyPoint Member/CW2 Jonathan Kantor - Just to be clear, you do know that this was put into effect 8 years ago for the federal government. The EPA reg being discussed is EPA's implementation of the act.

Think of it this way - DoD releases a DODI stating that DOD has be ability to take something. The Army and Marines will publish their own guidance about implementing the policy through a regulation, service instructions, policy letter or some such venue. That's what the EPA is doing.

If you look at the DCIA, you'll see langage which says, "All federal agencies are required to participate in AWG [Administrative Wage Garnishment - what was authorized by the DCIA] through DMS' Cross-Servicing program. Federal agencies must publish AWG regulations and set up hearing procedures before they are eligible to participate in the AWG program."

I'm with the two of you in disliking this without 'due process', but the outrage is 8 years too late.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 13 at 2014 7:08 PM

2014-07-13T19:08:15-04:00

Citizens don't have rights. They are regulated by the government elites. After all, they know what's best for all of us. That's progressive regulations for you.

Response by LCpl Steve Wininger made Jul 13 at 2014 7:19 PM

2014-07-13T19:19:41-04:00

They have been slowly eroding over the past two decades. Since the USA Patriot act, that erosion has increased. I am going to beat the liberals here and blame Bush for the Patriot Act and using executive privilege to do some questionable things, however, Obama has taken what Bush started and has ran with it. Using executive orders to legislate, and the Patriot Act, along with secret interpretations, to totally get our privacy.

Everyday, we lose a little more of our rights as citizens.
I wont go any farther for fear of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, but I fear it is going to get worse before it ever gets better.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 4 at 2015 1:36 AM

2015-04-04T01:36:06-04:00

And people wonder why mature adults vote Republican. Not because they are good necessarily but this is the kind of thing that you get. Two years will not come soon enough for me.