II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2672 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 7, 2014 

Received 

AN ACT 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping Expand Lend3 ing Practices in Rural Communities Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF RURAL AREA. 

5 (a) APPLICATION.—Not later than 90 days after the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act, the Bureau of Consumer 

7 Financial Protection shall establish an application process 

8 under which a person who lives or does business in a State 

9 may, with respect to an area identified by the person in 

10 such State that has not been designated by the Bureau 

11 as a rural area for purposes of a Federal consumer finan12 cial law (as defined under section 1002 of the Consumer 

13 Financial Protection Act of 2010), apply for such area to 

14 be so designated. 

15 (b) EVALUATION CRITERIA.—When evaluating an 

16 application submitted under subsection (a), the Bureau 

17 shall take into consideration the following factors: 

18 (1) Criteria used by the Director of the Bureau 

19 of the Census for classifying geographical areas as 

20 rural or urban. 

21 (2) Criteria used by the Director of the Office 

22 of Management and Budget to designate counties as 

23 metropolitan or micropolitan or neither. 

24 (3) Criteria used by the Secretary of Agri25 culture to determine property eligibility for rural de26 velopment programs. 


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HR 2672 RDS 

1 (4) The Department of Agriculture rural-urban 

2 commuting area codes. 

3 (5) A written opinion provided by the State’s 

4 bank supervisor, as defined under section 3(r) of the 

5 Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(r)). 

6 (6) Population density. 

7 (c) PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

9 receiving an application submitted under subsection 

10 (a), the Bureau shall— 

11 (A) publish such application in the Federal 

12 Register; and 

13 (B) make such application available for 

14 public comment for not fewer than 90 days. 

15 (2) LIMITATION ON ADDITIONAL APPLICA16 TIONS.—Nothing in this section shall be construed 

17 to require the Bureau, during the public comment 

18 period with respect to an application submitted 

19 under subsection (a), to accept an additional appli20 cation with respect to the area that is the subject of 

21 the initial application. 

22 (d) DECISION ON DESIGNATION.—Not later than 90 

23 days after the end of the public comment period under 

24 subsection (c)(1) for an application, the Bureau shall— 


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HR 2672 RDS 

1 (1) grant or deny such application, in whole or 

2 in part; and 

3 (2) publish such grant or denial in the Federal 

4 Register, along with an explanation of what factors 

5 the Bureau relied on in making such determination. 

6 (e) SUBSEQUENT APPLICATIONS.—A decision by the 

7 Bureau under subsection (d) to deny an application for 

8 an area to be designated as a rural area shall not preclude 

9 the Bureau from accepting a subsequent application sub10 mitted under subsection (a) for such area to be so des11 ignated, so long as such subsequent application is made 

12 after the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date 

13 that the Bureau denies the application under subsection 

14 (d). 

15 (f) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to have any 

16 force or effect after the end of the 2-year period beginning 

17 on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 6, 2014. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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