Mike Hilgers

Story this morning about a victim of an apparent scam. There are more and more sophisticated ways that scam artists try to trick people into sending them money, and this is a growing problem. One of the best ways to protect yourself is to be prepared, know some of the signs of a possible scam, and to reach out to a trusted source if you have concerns. We have a ton of resources from our consumer team at https://t.co/6NgMZDcg6G. We also have a response team who can help if you are concerned you are or have been scammed! If in doubt, call us!

Suppose that one of those manufacturers decides that they want to sell electric semi-trucks. They are absolutely free to do so! No problem with that. But if they did, they would almost certainly lose out in the marketplace. Practically no one wants to buy electric semis--they are more expensive, harder to use, and carry less payload. To top it off (no pun intended), the necessary charging infrastructure hardly exists. Not much of a market for more expensive, less effective products. So if that company decided to stop selling diesel-based trucks and instead shift to electric, they would lose a lot of money. Customers would simply shift their spending to those who were selling diesel-based trucks. The market would speak. But what if those customers had nowhere else to go? What if all of the companies agreed to stop selling diesel-based semis? In this world, customers would be FORCED to buy higher-priced, less-effective semis. There would be nowhere else to turn. In that case, it would not be the market speaking, but the companies' agreement. That is not a free market. Because we have antitrust authority, we are in a position to stop this anticompetitive behavior. It is critical to defending the market, and that is why we filed that lawsuit.

One of the most active and important bureaus in our office is the Consumer Protection Bureau. What is it responsible for, and how do the attorneys in the bureau work to help Nebraskans? The bureau takes on fights that are critical to a functioning free market, often taking on some of the largest or most powerful companies in the country. More below...🧵

I did an interview yesterday, the focus of which was on our efforts to stop the synthetic delta 8 (D8) crisis in Nebraska, and specifically what I would say to store owners who are just trying to keep their lights on and their employees paid. Here is what I would say: First--I have empathy for any business owner who is trying to keep the lights on. When I built my firm, the greatest stress I had was making sure I had enough revenue to pay the employees who trusted me to be part of the team. Second--despite that desire, you still have to operate within the rules! Even if synthetic delta 8 is legal in Nebraska--and, as we have said time and again, the legalization of hemp did not carve-out synthetic D8 from the CSA --what is happening is STILL not justified / legal. Here is why: What we are seeing is not just the mere presence of synthetic D8, but wildly incorrect packaging. Here is an extraordinary statistic: 90% of what we have purchased and tested has been mislabeled. 90%! And we have tested 500+ products, so this isn't a small sample size. And when I say "mislabel," I am not talking about a minor error in a label, like putting 10g of carbs instead of 11g. In our testing, we have seen products where the label might say the product has 10 mg of D8 but in fact has 100s of mg! (For context--10mg might be enough to put my 6-year old son into the hospital. 600-800mg of D8 is exceedingly dangerous.) Or the product might have D9 in it--the active compound in marijuana--without having the D9 disclosed on the label. Or the product might contain chemicals we know cause cancer, or heavy metals, or even chemicals that have never been tested even in rats. In most cases, if not all, these extra chemicals and substances are not disclosed. But there is more than just mislabeling. Even if these products are properly labeled, they still can't be sold. The FDA has recently said that a food / drink that has D8 in it--whether derived or synthetic--makes the food "adulterated" in violation of federal law! And even if all of these legal boxes were checked--and they have not been--we still haven't even dug into the devastating health impacts. We have had at least one recent death allegedly tied to D8 use in Lancaster County. We have heard stories of major mental health issues, hospitalizations, poisonings, etc. Just this week, at two different events in two different cities, I heard anecdotes of induced psychosis in young people from these products. To recap, we have stores: (a) selling products that are mislabeled 90%+ of the time, (b) that can cause major health issues, including mental health issues and hospitalizations, (c) which are marketed / appeal to kids and which contain amounts of D8 that are exceedingly dangerous, and (d) are being sold in violation of state and federal law. There isn't any other industry where we would find this acceptable. Could you imagine a convenience store, or a grocery, that was selling products like this? Could you imagine a diabetic buying a "sugar free" labeled product that instead was loaded with sugar? And, as much as I empathize with SMBs who are trying to make it, they need to find other ways to do generate revenue. And the vast majority of SMB owners are resourceful, entrepreneurial, and can overcome obstacles in ways that others can't conceive. If anyone can do it, they can! But you simply cannot sell these kinds of products, and cause this kind of harm, in violation of state and federal law, and justify it on the need to make money. Mike

The Consumer Protection Bureau is small; it is perhaps one of the smallest in the country. But it is mighty. Your attorneys are taking on some of the biggest companies in the world. Those companies have some of the deepest pockets and can hire an army of lawyers to fight us. Those resources make it very daunting, if not impossible, for an individual to take on on their own. That is why we have this bureau--to take on these fights!

Great to be on @jsolomonReports this week talking about our lawsuit against Temu, the recent Skrmetti decision, and more. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk with John, and am grateful for his work in spreading Just The News across the country!

Nebraska is home to some amazing companies! One of those is Reinke Manufacturing, near Fairbury. I had the chance to get a tour last month. They are one of three major players in the center-pivot irrigation space that are all based here in Nebraska (we are proud of all of them!). Reinke is an innovative company, and it was cool to see the technology that they used and hear about their worldwide reach. More than anything, Reinke is the heartbeat of the community, and it was gratifying to see the company continue to invest in its people. Reinke is a great Nebraska success story. Thank you for the tour!

Or take our recent suit against General Motors. Car companies are free to try to entice customers to opt in to sharing data with them. But they need to be honest about what they are doing with the data. I would guess that if a company wanted to get customers to opt in to share their driving data so that third-party insurers could use the data to raise their insurance rates or cancel their policies, then the company would not get too many people willing to opt in. But they would be free to try! So long as they told customers what they were going to do with the data. What you can't do is deceive the customers into thinking that their data will be used for internal purposes, or safety purposes, and then sell it to those insurers. When that happens--and that is what we alleged in our GM complaint--then customers are harmed because companies are being deceptive. Our consumer statutes give us the power to hold companies accountable to Nebraskans and put a stop to this bad behavior.

The Consumer Protection Bureau is perhaps the key watchdog in protecting Nebraska customers. The Legislature has given our office broad powers. For example, our consumer protection group is tasked with regulating non-profits as well as certain data security issues. But two statutes in particular are worth unpacking in more depth, as they are critical to defending free markets and are bedrock defenses for Nebraskans.

Great work by our consumer protection team! We have as good a team as there is, and they’re working every day to protect Nebraska consumers. Very happy to report this news after the latest attempt to mislead Nebraska businesses.