II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1916 

To amend the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection 

Act to provide for an application process for interested parties to apply 

for a county to be designated as a rural area, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 14, 2014 

Mr. MCCONNELL (for himself and Mr. PAUL) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to provide for an application process for interested parties to apply for a county to be 

designated as a rural area, 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 ‘‘Helping Expand Lend5 ing Practices in Rural Communities Act of 2014’’ or the 

6 ‘‘HELP Rural Communities Act of 2014’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF COUNTY AS A RURAL AREA. 

2 Section 1022 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 

3 and Consumer Protection Act (12 U.S.C. 5512) is amend4 ed by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

5 ‘‘(e) DESIGNATION OF COUNTY AS A RURAL AREA.— 

6 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION.—Not later than 90 days 

7 after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 

8 the Bureau shall establish an application process 

9 under which a person who lives or does business in 

10 a State may, with respect to a county in such State 

11 that has not been designated by the Bureau as a 

12 rural area for purposes of a Federal consumer finan13 cial law, apply for such county to be so designated. 

14 ‘‘(2) EVALUATION CRITERIA.—When evaluating 

15 an application submitted under paragraph (1), the 

16 Bureau shall take into consideration the following 

17 factors: 

18 ‘‘(A) Criteria used by the Director of the 

19 Bureau of the Census for classifying geo20 graphical areas as rural or urban. 

21 ‘‘(B) Criteria used by the Director of the 

22 Office of Management and Budget to designate 

23 counties as metropolitan or micropolitan or nei24 ther. 


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1 ‘‘(C) Criteria used by the Secretary of Ag2 riculture to determine property eligibility for 

3 rural development programs. 

4 ‘‘(D) The Department of Agriculture rural5 urban commuting area codes. 

6 ‘‘(E) A written opinion provided by the 

7 State’s banking regulator. 

8 ‘‘(F) Population density. 

9 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 

11 days after receiving an application submitted 

12 under paragraph (1), the Bureau shall— 

13 ‘‘(i) publish such application in the 

14 Federal Register; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) make such application available 

16 for public comment for not fewer than 90 

17 days. 

18 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION ON ADDITIONAL APPLI19 CATIONS.—Nothing in this subsection shall be 

20 construed to require the Bureau, during the 

21 public comment period with respect to an appli22 cation submitted under paragraph (1), to accept 

23 an additional application with respect to the 

24 county that is the subject of the initial applica25 tion. 


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1 ‘‘(4) INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE PUB2 LISHED.—The Bureau shall enter each application 

3 submitted under paragraph (1) in a sortable, 

4 downloadable database that is publicly accessible 

5 through the Web site of the Bureau. 

6 ‘‘(5) DECISION ON DESIGNATION.—Not later 

7 than 90 days after the end of the public comment 

8 period under paragraph (3)(A) for an application, 

9 the Bureau shall— 

10 ‘‘(A) grant or deny such application; and 

11 ‘‘(B) publish such grant or denial in the 

12 Federal Register, along with an explanation of 

13 what factors the Bureau relied on in making 

14 such determination. 

15 ‘‘(6) SUBSEQUENT APPLICATIONS.—A decision 

16 by the Bureau under paragraph (5) to deny an ap17 plication for a county to be designated as a rural 

18 area shall not preclude the Bureau from accepting a 

19 subsequent application submitted under paragraph 

20 (1) for such county to be so designated, so long as 

21 such subsequent application is made after the end of 

22 the 90-day period beginning on the date that the 

23 Bureau denies the application under paragraph 

24 (5).’’. 

Æ 


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