Announcements, information and updates from CWAG Members and Associates
June 28, 2018
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Registration Deadline Approaching
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Arizona Attorney General and CWAG Chair Mark Brnovich, and New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas invite you to the 2018 CWAG Annual Meeting in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico this July 22 to 25, 2018. Join your colleagues as CWAG explores the most pertinent legal issues during the days and spend the evenings enjoying the land of enchantment at our special events. The
meeting website
includes travel and hotel information to facilitate air and hotel arrangements, speaker details, CLE information and much more.
Registration is now open, and we encourage you to
register now to secure your spot before the conference sells out.
- Early Bird Registration is closed.
- Final Registration Deadline: *Monday, July 9, 2018, at 5:00 pm Pacific time. No registrations will be accepted after this time. *Registration is likely to close earlier as the meeting is quickly reaching capacity.
- No On-Site Registration.
The CWAG host hotel Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa is
sold out
. If you have been unable to secure a room, the nearest hotel is the
Santa Ana Star Casino
hotel.
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Hot Topics On The Agenda At The 2018 CWAG Annual Meeting
Check out the latest articles on topics that will be addressed during the Annual Meeting in New Mexico! (
Note: Subscription may be required for access
.)
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DOMESTIC ABUSE VIA SMART HOME DEVICES
FORENSICS
MARIJUANA
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As the keynote speaker, New Mexico AG Hector Balderas shared innovative and proactive thoughts and projects around identity – with a focus on the intersection of identity and biometrics.
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The New York High Intensity Financial Crimes Area/El Dorado Task Force Financial Crimes Symposium
Featured panelist: District of Columbia AG Karl Racine spoke at “Banking the Cannabis Industry.”
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SCAM ALERT: AG Balderas Warns New Mexicans Of Scammers Impersonating Elected Officials
Scammer Sent Online Messages Pretending to be Senator Martin Heinrich, Offering Info on Bogus Big Money Grant
June 25, 2018
Attorney General Hector Balderas issued a new Scam Alert urging consumers to beware of scammers impersonating elected officials, particularly in online messages.
A consumer received messages via Facebook Messenger that appeared to be sent by Senator Heinrich, soliciting consumer information, in exchange for a bogus grant, even though the senator had nothing to do with the texts. Clues that the texts were part of a scam solicitation included poor grammar and misspellings throughout the messages.
As in most scams, the scammer asked the consumer to reveal personal information in order to get more details about the “grant.” Luckily, the consumer became suspicious and ended the text communication. If he had gone further, he could have exposed himself to identity theft and financial consequences.
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AG Laxalt And Federal Trade Commission Obtain Federal Judgment Against Parties Responsible For Revenge Pornography Website
Defendants must destroy images, pay $2.2 million for violating Nevada’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, federal law
June 22, 2018
Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt announced that the State of Nevada, along with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), obtained a judgment against the parties responsible for the revenge pornography website, MyEx.com, for violation of federal and state law. The order results from the website’s non-consensual posting of intimate images of individuals, along with their personal information.
As a result of the order, MyEx.com is permanently barred from operating a website or online service that disseminates intimate images of individuals without their verifiable, affirmative, express consent in writing. The court also ordered the defendants to destroy the intimate images in their possession, and to pay $2,022,930 in monetary relief to the FTC. After the Office of the Nevada Attorney General and the FTC filed for an injunction in January of this year, MyEx.com was successfully taken offline. This newly acquired federal order now ensures that the website will remain offline.
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AG Becerra Issues Consumer Alert On Price Gouging Following State of Emergency In Lake County
June 25, 2018
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued a consumer alert following the Governor’s declaration of a state of emergency in Lake County due to a widespread wildfire. Attorney General Becerra reminds all Californians that price gouging during a state of emergency is illegal under Penal Code Section 396.
California law generally prohibits charging a price that exceeds, by more than 10 percent, the price of an item before a state or local declaration of emergency. This law applies to those who sell food, emergency supplies, medical supplies, building materials and gasoline. The law also applies to repair or reconstruction services, emergency cleanup services, transportation, freight and storage services, hotel accommodations and rental housing. Exceptions to this prohibition exist if, for example, the price of labor, goods, or materials has increased for the business.
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Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman Leads Bi-Partisan Effort to Preserve States' Authority to Fight Abusive Lending Practices
June 28, 2018
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Colorado Attorney General Cynthia H. Coffman and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey are leading a bi-partisan effort urging U.S. Congressional leadership to vote against HR 3299 (“Protecting Consumers’ Access to Credit Act of 2017”) and HR 4439 (“Modernizing Credit Opportunities Act”). The coalition of 20 attorneys general sent a letter to leadership in the U.S. Senate expressing their opposition to the proposed legislation which would invalidate the States’ ability to limit interest rates on payday and other high interest loans and undermine the State’s ability to enforce consumer protection laws.
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AG Balderas Wins Key Fight Defending Katie’s Law & Keeping Serial Child Rapist In Prison
June 22, 2018
Attorney General Hector Balderas announced the successful defense of Katie’s Law, which is critical to holding the most dangerous sexual predators accountable. The New Mexico Court of Appeals upheld the convictions of Joseph Blea, who was convicted of criminal sexual penetration and kidnapping involving four separate victims, one a 13-year-old girl. At the time of the crimes, which occurred in 1988, 1990, and 1993, the victims were unable to identify their attackers. The crimes went unsolved until 2010 when Defendant’s DNA was matched to the DNA evidence collected in these cases.
The match was made possible by the application of “Katie’s Law,” New Mexico’s DNA Identification Act. Katie’s Law requires persons arrested for certain offenses to provide jail personnel with a DNA sample which can then be analyzed and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database maintained by the FBI. New Mexico is one of many states to enact such a statute.
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Guam, American Samoa, CNMI To Receive Funds For Beach Monitoring
U.S. EPA funding will support water quality and public swimming advisories
June 21, 2018
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing more than $900,000 in total to the Guam Environmental Protection Agency, American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency, and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality to support beach water quality monitoring and information-sharing throughout each Territory.
The announcement of the funding was made at the Pacific Islands Environment Directors Meeting being held this week in San Francisco. EPA is making over $300,000 available to each territory to strengthen their monitoring and notification programs, and to make monitoring results readily available to the public. This grant is a portion of the $1.64 million EPA expects to award to states and territories throughout the Pacific Southwest region for beach monitoring and reporting. The funding is authorized under the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act.
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AG Schimel Joins CVS Health For Announcement Of In-Store Drug Disposal Boxes
Jun 22 2018
Attorney General Brad Schimel joined CVS Health to announce the company’s first in-store permanent drug disposal collection box in Wisconsin. This announcement from CVS Health joins Attorney General Schimel’s ongoing work to prevent prescription opioid abuse in Wisconsin through enforcement, prevention, and treatment.
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AG Kilmartin Announces Prescription Opiate Litigation Filed On Behalf Of Rhode Island
June 25, 218
Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced that the Office of Attorney General has filed a civil lawsuit against prescription opioid manufacturers and distributors over their alleged campaign of unfairly, deceptively, and fraudulently marketing and promoting opioids in Rhode Island. The suit follows an investigation into the extent of the proliferation of prescription opioids in the state of Rhode Island, including the societal and financial consequences.
Specifically in Rhode Island, Purdue aggressively marketed its opioids, making thousands of visits to doctors, knowing that its in-person marketing, or “detailing,” was effective. Purdue’s deceptive marketing caused prescribing not only of their opioids, but of opioids as a class, to skyrocket. Opioids are now among the most prescribed classes of drugs. In 2015 on an average day, more than 620,000 opioid prescriptions were dispensed in the U.S. While previously a small minority of opioid sales, today between 80% and 90% of opioids (measured by weight) used are for chronic pain.
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AG Schimel Partners With National Association Of Attorneys General To Host Drug Overdose Death Investigation Training In Milwaukee
June 26, 2018
Attorney General Brad Schimel partnered with the National Attorneys General Training & Research Institute (NAGTRI) to offer training for Wisconsin prosecutors and law enforcement on the investigation and prosecution of death cases resulting from overdoses of heroin and fentanyl.
More than 120 law enforcement and prosecutors from across Wisconsin are attending the training, which was located at Marquette Law School, who generously donated the location venue. The course is designed for the information and education of assistant attorneys general, state and local law enforcement officers, and local prosecutors. Topics included in the training are drug overdose death investigation techniques, legal requirements of these investigations, drug safety awareness, and evidence handling.
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Welcome to the Sponsor Spotlight, where each week CWAG will celebrate one of our private sector partners.
For more than 150 years, Pfizer has worked to make a difference as a leader in research-based biopharmaceuticals. Using science and global resources, they deliver innovative therapies that extend and significantly improve lives. Pfizer’s medicines and vaccines are made to help people when they are sick and prevent them from getting sick in the first place. Their global teams work in developed and emerging markets to treat, cure and eradicate life-threatening conditions and challenge some of the most feared diseases of our time. Pfizer also collaborates with healthcare providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable healthcare around the world.
Senior Vice President for US Government Relations Robert W. Jones has participated in CWAG for more than a decade, and
Assistant General Counsel Markus Green serves on CWAG’s Alliance Partnership Advisory Board, promoting health through support for the Rule of Law. Pfizer has made possible the Africa Alliance Partnership (CWAG-AAP), which is now operating in various countries throughout the continent.
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FORENSICS RESEARCH LIBRARY
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CWAG and Cellebrite Introduce Launch Digital Forensics Resource Library
The
Conference of Western Attorneys General (CWAG)
Cyber Security Working Group and working group partner
Cellebrite
, a
leading provider of digital intelligence solutions, announced the launch of a comprehensive repository of digital procedural documents and educational assets designed to enhance the investigative process for law enforcement and prosecutors.
The CWAG Cyber Security Working Group – Digital Forensics Task Force consists of Attorneys General representatives from Arizona, Colorado, Idaho and Wisconsin. With an initial goal of creating legal policy and procedures around the access of public and private cloud through tools like Cellebrite’s UFED Cloud Analyzer, CWAG recognized the wider implications and value of creating and sharing their collective insights. With technical expertise and guidance from Cellebrite, the working group laid the groundwork for the repository initiative.
“Digital forensics technology has become an increasingly vital resource for law enforcement and legal entities in the United States, since crimes at all levels often involve mass amounts of digital evidence,” said Karen White, CWAG Executive Director. “Digital intelligence tools can provide real-time collection of cloud-based evidence in a forensically sound manner, enabling law enforcement officers and investigators to preserve and analyze data in the public domain including location information, profiles, images, files, and communications from the most popular social media applications.”
CWAG members can obtain access to this ever-expanding library of assets by contacting CWAG Alliance Partnership Deputy Director Lauren Niehaus at
LNiehaus@cwagweb.org.
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Updated
American Indian Law Deskbook
Is Now Available
*Access may require subscription
The
American Indian Law Deskbook
is a concise, direct, and easy-to-understand handbook on Indian law. Indian law is a dynamic, ever-evolving field of law that overlaps other areas of the law as tribes expand their economic and political reach in our society. As the chief legal officers of the states, the State Attorneys General offer a unique insight into Indian law. The states have been parties before the United States Supreme Court and the lower courts to many of the cases that have shaped Indian Law over the years. The chapter authors of this book are experienced state lawyers who have been involved in Indian law for many years.
American Indian Law Deskbook
addresses the areas of Indian law most relevant to the practitioner. Topics include:
- Definitions of Indians and Indian tribes
- Indian lands
- Criminal, civil regulatory, and civil adjudicatory jurisdiction
- Civil rights
- Indian water rights
- Fish and wildlife
- Environmental regulation
- Taxation
- Gaming
- Indian Child Welfare Act and tribal-state cooperative agreements
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Follow the 31 AG Races in 2018 on this Interactive Website
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A significant number of states, 30 and the District of Columbia, have contests for the Office of Attorney General. Cozen O’Connor’s State Attorneys General Practice hosts an interactive map for those interested in following the races throughout the country. The State AG Election Tracker includes state-by-state AG candidate snapshots, filing deadlines and primary election dates; daily news, insights, polling and fundraising data; and the ability to sign up for real-time election-night updates via text and email. Access is free.
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