Last week, the House Financial Services Committee passed a group of pro-community banking bills. While the potential for enactment is limited due to competing Congressional priorities, these bills are important markers for a new Congress to consider next year.
The bills include:
- Representative Andy Barr’s (R-KY) Promoting Access to Capital in Underbanked Communities Act of 2023 (H.R. 758), which would provide more regulatory, capital and lending flexibility to facilitate the creation of de novo banks.
- The CDFI Fund Transparency Act (H.R. 3161), introduced by Representatives John Rose (R-TN) and Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) to require annual Treasury Department testimony on CDFI Fund operations.
- Barr’s Bank Resilience and Regulatory Improvement Act (H.R. 8337), which would raise the asset exemption thresholds of five burdensome regulatory provisions.
- Barr’s Bank Supervision Appeals Improvement Act (H.R. 8264) to create a workable appeals process for bank examinations.
- The Small Bank Holding Company Relief Act of 2023 (H.R. 4346), Representative Alex Mooney’s (R-WV) bill to raise the asset threshold to qualify as Small Bank Holding Companies from $3 billion to $10 billion to help community banks raise capital.
- Barr’s Rectifying UDAAP Act (H.R. 6789), which would clarify and balance the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s authority to oversee unfair, deceptive and abusive acts and practices.
- The Small Lenders Exempt from New Data and Excessive Reporting Act (H.R. 1806), Representative French Hill’s (R-AR) bill to expand exemptions from the CFPB’s 1071 rule and extend the rule’s compliance deadline.
- The Bank Loan Privacy Act (H.R. 1810) from Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), which would require the CFPB to conduct a rulemaking on financial institution and credit applicant data it plans to publish under the 1071 rule.
