Patrick Leahy: “about two months ago, Senator Abraham and I began holding a series of meetings involving industry and consumer…”

“about two months ago, Senator Abraham and I began holding a series of meetings involving industry and consumer representatives to work out a bill that would permit and encourage the continued expansion of electronic commerce, and promote public confidence in its integrity and reliability. Together, we solicited and received technical assistance from the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission. In late September, we put the finishing touches on a Leahy-Abraham substitute to S. 761. On Tuesday night, after most members had left for the day, Senator Abraham went to the floor and propounded a unanimous consent on a very different substitute to S. 761. Because I was not able to respond fully to his comments the other night, I would like to do so now. At the outset, let me say that I support the passage of federal legislation in this area. In particular, we need to ensure that contracts are not denied validity that they otherwise have simply because they are in electronic form or signed electronically. As I have said many times, however, we must tread cautiously when legislating in cyberspace. Senator Abraham's bill, S. 761, takes a sweeping approach, preempting countless laws and regulations, federal and state, that require contracts, records and signatures to be in traditional written form. My concern is that such a sweeping approach would radically undermine laws that are currently in place to protect consumers.”