I spoke on a panel on Credit Reports and Credit Scores (my outline) on a variety of issues, but primarily in opposition to the use of credit scores for insurance purposes. We recommend a ban in our PIRG/Consumers Union model state credit and identity theft law because your credit score is based on your error-ridden credit report, your credit score has no actuarial relationship to your ability to drive a car or your propensity (if any!) to burn or down or trash your house and, worst, insurance companies may be using credit scoring as a proxy for race, an otherwise illegal rating factor.

I also attended a fine workshop featuring two of the nation's academic experts on and opponents of state preemption. Law Professor Tom McGarity of the University of Texas is also President of the Center for Progressive Reform. I'm looking forward to his book on the preemption threat, due out next year. Professor Carl Stenberg of the University of North Carolina is co-author of Beyond Preemption: Intergovernmental Partnerships to Enhance the New Economy from the National Academy of Public Administration.