Morrisey joins coalition against Biden's monitoring plan

Oct. 19—CHARLESTON — West Virginia's attorney general has joined a 19-state coalition of attorneys general in writing a letter to President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, voicing opposition to a Biden Administration plan to provide the federal government with access to nearly every American's bank account and financial transaction information.

The attorneys general noted in their letter that this "invasive policy" will require all banks, credit unions, and financial institutions to report information to the Internal Revenue Service on every bank account that has a balance of at least $600 and exceeds $600 per year in transactions, according to a statement Monday from the West Virginia Attorney General's Office.

"As the chief legal officers of our states, we find this proposal wholly unacceptable and oppose any requirement of its kind," Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said. "It is at best overly burdensome and at worst it is illegal. As such, we ask you to rescind this proposal immediately."

In the letter, the attorneys general argued that banks across the country will have to transform the way in which they conduct business in order to comply with the proposed reporting requirements, including investing significant amounts of money in data collection and other systems.

The letter states that consumers will be punished in many ways, as banks would likely pass on costs in the form of fees or higher interest rates, according to the Attorney General's Office. The plan would also require the centralized storage of sensitive information that would provide cyber criminals with an additional target to exploit information about nearly every American.

The coalition argued in the letter that if stopping financial criminals or punishing those who evade taxes is the goal of the administration, they will gladly join to find the right solutions based on the rule of law. Violating the rights of virtually every American with a bank account, however, is not the answer, according to the Attorney General's Office.

In addition to West Virginia, the coalition includes the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com