A co-author of a landmark corporate reform law that set detailed ...

Act after major accounting scandals. Among other provisions, the law requires firms to log and archive e-mail and instant messaging (IM), for some a daunting task. “What the law really does is enshrine the principles of honesty and accountability that I learned growing up in Ohio,” Oxley said: “You never get in trouble by doing the right thing.” Oxley’s House Financial Services Committee also passed identity theft protections in the Fair & Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act. The committee was responsible for the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, made law in Oct. 2003. That measure aids consumers by improving electronic payment systems. Oxley also was at the forefront of the telecom revolution. He sponsored laws creating the spectrum auctions that led to the growth of cell phones and other telecom services and earned $14.5 billion the U.S. Treasury used to cut the deficit, officials said. Key parts of 1996’s Telecom Act bear his stamp, his office said. “It was almost unthinkable when I introduced a bill that would allow cable and telephone companies to compete with each other, and that was barely 10 years ago,” Oxley said. A spokesman told us Oxley had not made plans post-retirement.