The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee is considering legislation that will exempt from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act the for-profit companies who collect on bad checks. The House passed similar legislation last year. According to a report in today's Baltimore Sun, the legislation is supported by the National District Attorneys Association, as well as prosecutors who go after people who write bad checks.

But consider this: the Sun report noted that a 35-year old contract specialist with the Justice Department bounced a $21 check at the grocery store. The bounce was an accident - changes were made to the check writer's savings account, and the overdraft protection did not kick in when it should have. When she noticed the check did not clear, she contacted the grocer.

But she said it was too late. A letter from a check-diversion company - but appearing to be from the district attorney's office- threatened to criminally prosecute her if she didn't pay about $181 and take a financial management class, she said. Afraid, [the check writer] said, she paid the fee rather than fight it.

"There is no reason to feel threatened and afraid in that way and intimidated," [she] said yesterday.

Who hasn't bounced a check by accident? There are lots of reasons: you forget to write down a debit card purchase, or you forget to carry the two. Not everyone is committing fraud, and not everyone gets a criminal charge filed against them.

It would appear that once again, Congress is trying to address a small problem with a big change in the law....much like it did when it passed the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act in 2005 to address what it perceived was widespread fraud in the system.

I sure am glad it's an election year.