II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4875 

To provide protections for good faith borrowers and lenders under the 

paycheck protection program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 26 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 

Mr. LEE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide protections for good faith borrowers and lenders 

under the paycheck protection program, 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 ‘‘Protections for Good 

5 Faith PPP Borrowers and Lenders Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. HOLDING HARMLESS GOOD FAITH BORROWERS 

7 AND LENDERS. 

8 Section 1106 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9005) 

9 is amended— 


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•S 4875 IS

1 (1) by striking subsection (h) and inserting the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(h) HOLD HARMLESS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A lender may rely on all 

5 certifications and documentation submitted by an 

6 applicant or eligible recipient pursuant to any re7 quirement in statute regarding covered loans, or 

8 rules or guidance promulgated to carry out any ac9 tion relating to covered loans, from an applicant or 

10 eligible recipient attesting that the applicant or eligi11 ble recipient has accurately verified all documenta12 tion provided to the lender. 

13 ‘‘(2) NO ENFORCEMENT ACTION.—With respect 

14 to a lender that relies on the certifications and docu15 mentation described in paragraph (1)— 

16 ‘‘(A) no enforcement or other action may 

17 be taken against the lender relating to loan 

18 origination, forgiveness, or guarantee based on 

19 such reliance, including claims under— 

20 ‘‘(i) the Small Business Act (15 

21 U.S.C. 631 et seq.); 

22 ‘‘(ii) sections 3729 through 3733 of 

23 title 31, United States Code (commonly 

24 known as the ‘False Claims Act’); 


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•S 4875 IS

1 ‘‘(iii) the Financial Institutions Re2 form, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 

3 1989 (Public Law 101–73; 101 Stat. 183); 

4 ‘‘(iv) section 21 of the Federal De5 posit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1829b), 

6 chapter 2 of title I of Public Law 91–508 

7 (12 U.S.C. 1951 et seq.), and subchapter 

8 II of chapter 53 of title 31, United States 

9 Code (collectively known as the ‘Bank Se10 crecy Act’); or 

11 ‘‘(v) any other Federal, State, or 

12 other criminal or civil law or regulation; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(B) the lender shall not be subject to any 

15 penalties relating to loan origination, forgive16 ness, or guarantee based on such reliance.’’; 

17 and 

18 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(n) ENFORCEMENT ACTION AGAINST BOR20 ROWERS.—An eligible recipient of a covered loan may only 

21 be subject to an enforcement action or penalty relating 

22 to loan origination, forgiveness, or guarantee of the cov23 ered loan if the eligible recipient commits fraud or expends 

24 covered loan proceeds on expenses that are not allowable 


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•S 4875 IS

1 under section 7(a)(36)(F) of the Small Business Act (15 

2 U.S.C. 636(a)(36)(F)).’’. 

3 SEC. 3. EXCLUSION OF PPP LOANS FROM THE CALCULA4 TION OF LENDING INSTITUTION ASSETS. 

5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

6 (1) the terms ‘‘bank’’ and ‘‘bank holding com7 pany’’ have the meanings given those terms in sec8 tion 2 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 

9 (12 U.S.C. 1841); 

10 (2) the term ‘‘credit union’’ includes— 

11 (A) an insured credit union, as that term 

12 is defined in section 101 of the Federal Credit 

13 Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1752); and 

14 (B) any credit union that is eligible to 

15 make application to become an insured credit 

16 union pursuant to section 201 of the Federal 

17 Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1781); and 

18 (3) the term ‘‘lending institution’’ includes a 

19 bank, a bank holding company, and a credit union. 

20 (b) PROHIBITION.—No loan made under section 

21 7(a)(36) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

22 636(a)(36)) may be included in any asset threshold cal23 culation for any lending institution, including a threshold 

24 described in— 


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•S 4875 IS

1 (1) section 10(d)(4)(A) of the Federal Deposit 

2 Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1820(d)(4)(A)); 

3 (2) section 809 of the Community Reinvestment 

4 Act of 1977 (12 U.S.C. 2908); 

5 (3) section 13(h)(1)(B)(i) of the Bank Holding 

6 Company Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1851(h)(1)(B)(i)); 

7 and 

8 (4) any regulation promulgated under a section 

9 described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3). 

10 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON CFPB OVERSIGHT OF LENDING IN11 STITUTIONS PARTICIPATING IN THE PPP. 

12 The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection shall 

13 not have the authority to— 

14 (1) assess, audit, review, or examine any part 

15 of the participation of a lender in the program es16 tablished under section 7(a)(36) of the Small Busi17 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)(36)); or 

18 (2) levy fees or fines against a lender due to 

19 any action of the lender under the program de20 scribed in paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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