I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7338 

To establish an Office of the Community Development Advocate for the 

Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, to establish a process for decertification of community development financial institutions, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2024 

Mr. NUNN of Iowa (for himself and Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To establish an Office of the Community Development Advocate for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, to establish a process for decertification of 

community development financial institutions, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Credit Access 

5 Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 


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1 (1) community development financial institu2 tions are financial institutions that seek to expand 

3 economic opportunity in underserved rural invest4 ment areas and low-income communities by pro5 viding access to financial products and services for 

6 local residents and businesses that otherwise may 

7 not be accessible; 

8 (2) certification as a community development fi9 nancial institution allows an institution to engage 

10 several programs outside of the Community Develop11 ment Financial Institutions Fund to further support 

12 the communities they serve; 

13 (3) the Department of the Treasury must con14 tinue to support community development financial 

15 institutions by standing up an ombudsman office 

16 and creating an orderly and transparent process for 

17 decertification so as to not cause unintentional harm 

18 to the communities they serve; and 

19 (4) the establishment of such an office and 

20 process should only serve to provide certainty and 

21 clarity for community development financial institu22 tions, not to reduce available funds for the sub23 stantive work of such institutions, and as such, ap24 propriate support for the Fund to accomplish this 

25 goal must be made available. 


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1 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF AN OFFICE OF THE COMMU2 NITY DEVELOPMENT ADVOCATE THE COM3 MUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL INSTITU4 TIONS FUND. 

5 (a) OMBUDSMAN FOR THE COMMUNITY DEVELOP6 MENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FUND.—Section 104 of 

7 the Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Im8 provement Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4703) is amended by 

9 adding at the end the following new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(l) OFFICE OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

11 ADVOCATE.— 

12 ‘‘(1) DESIGNATION.—The Administrator shall 

13 establish in the Fund an Office of the Community 

14 Development Advocate (in this subsection referred to 

15 as the ‘Office’). 

16 ‘‘(2) COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ADVOCATE.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The head of the Of18 fice shall be the Community Development Advo19 cate who shall— 

20 ‘‘(i) report directly to the Adminis21 trator; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) be appointed by the Adminis23 trator from among individuals having expe24 rience in advocating to expand economic 

25 opportunity for targeted populations and 

26 investment areas. 


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1 ‘‘(B) COMPENSATION.—The annual rate of 

2 pay for the Community Development Advocate 

3 shall be equal to the highest rate of annual pay 

4 for other senior executives who report to the 

5 Administrator. 

6 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION ON SERVICE.—An indi7 vidual who serves as the Community Develop8 ment Advocate may not be employed by the Ad9 ministrator— 

10 ‘‘(i) during the 2-year period ending 

11 on the date of appointment as Community 

12 Development Advocate; or 

13 ‘‘(ii) during the 5-year period begin14 ning on the date on which the person 

15 ceases to serve as the Community Develop16 ment Advocate. 

17 ‘‘(3) STAFF OF OFFICE.—The Community De18 velopment Advocate may retain or employ inde19 pendent counsel, research staff, and service staff, as 

20 the Community Development Advocate deems nec21 essary to carry out the functions and duties of the 

22 Office. 

23 ‘‘(4) DUTIES.—The Community Development 

24 Advocate shall ensure that community development 

25 financial institutions provide safe and affordable fiVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:09 Feb 21, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7338.IH H7338

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1 nancial products and services to targeted populations 

2 and investment areas. Such duties may include the 

3 following: 

4 ‘‘(A) Collecting, addressing, and docu5 menting complaints from institutions about— 

6 ‘‘(i) the process of becoming a cer7 tified community development financial in8 stitution; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) the process of applying for 

10 grants or programs of the Fund. 

11 ‘‘(B) Working with the Administrator and 

12 institutions to address complaints where pos13 sible, including the following: 

14 ‘‘(i) Obtaining clarity relating to de15 terminations or notices of noncompliance 

16 of an institution. 

17 ‘‘(ii) Ensuring reasonable responsive18 ness of the Administrator to inquiries from 

19 institutions. 

20 ‘‘(iii) Facilitating coordination be21 tween the Administrator and appropriate 

22 Federal banking agencies to ensure full un23 derstanding of issues related to safety and 

24 soundness of community development fiVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:09 Feb 21, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7338.IH H7338

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1 nancial institutions or legal and regulatory 

2 obligations of such institutions. 

3 ‘‘(iv) Ensuring that community devel4 opment financial institutions have timely 

5 access to technical assistance for applica6 tion systems administered by the Adminis7 trator. 

8 ‘‘(C) Assess the efficiency and efficacy of 

9 the certification and application processes de10 scribed in subparagraph (A) and assess whether 

11 the Fund has adequate resources for the num12 ber of applicants. 

13 ‘‘(5) REPORT.—The Community Development 

14 Advocate shall submit to Congress, the Adminis15 trator, and the Community Development Advisory 

16 Board an annual report that includes— 

17 ‘‘(A) an assessment of the responsiveness 

18 of the Administrator to inquiries from commu19 nity development financial institutions; 

20 ‘‘(B) an assessment of the length of time 

21 taken to review applications for certification or 

22 recertification from such institutions; 

23 ‘‘(C) the results of the assessments con24 ducted under paragraph (4)(C); and 


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1 ‘‘(D) such other information, as deter2 mined by the Community Development Advo3 cate.’’. 

4 SEC. 4. PROCESS FOR DECERTIFICATION OF COMMUNITY 

5 DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 

6 Section 119(a) of the Riegle Community Develop7 ment and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 (12 

8 U.S.C. 4717) is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(3) DECERTIFICATION.—Not later than 180 

11 days after the date of the enactment of this para12 graph, the Administrator shall promulgate regula13 tions to establish a process for revoking the certifi14 cation of a community development financial institu15 tion under this Act. Such process shall include— 

16 ‘‘(A) provision of clear, written guidance 

17 from the Administrator regarding what con18 stitutes noncompliance that would result in the 

19 revocation of a certification; 

20 ‘‘(B) the provision of meaningful, detailed, 

21 and individualized notice of noncompliance to 

22 the institution; 

23 ‘‘(C) identification in such notice of a rea24 sonable period to allow the institution to cure 

25 such noncompliance, which period may be exVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:09 Feb 21, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7338.IH H7338

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1 tended by the Administrator, in consultation 

2 with the Community Development Advocate; 

3 ‘‘(D) if the Administrator provides a notice 

4 to an institution describing noncompliance re5 lating to fraud or misrepresentation of the in6 stitution, streamlined processes for decertifica7 tion of such institution; 

8 ‘‘(E) provision of the contact information 

9 for the Office of Ombudsman; and 

10 ‘‘(F) a wind-down process for a community 

11 development financial institution for which cer12 tification has been revoked, established in con13 sultation with the appropriate Federal banking 

14 agency (as defined in section 3 of the Federal 

15 Deposit Insurance Act), to ensure the safety 

16 and soundness of the United States financial 

17 system.’’. 

18 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 There is authorized to be appropriated $1,000,000 to 

20 the Administrator of the Community Development Finan21 cial Institutions Fund to carry out this section. 

Æ 


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