I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2982 

To amend title I of the National Housing Act to modify premium charges 

and the dollar amount limitation on loans for financing alterations, 

repairs, and improvements to, or conversion of, existing structures, including energy efficiency or water conserving home improvements, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 8, 2015 

Mr. HUFFMAN (for himself and Mr. HECK of Washington) introduced the 

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

A BILL 

To amend title I of the National Housing Act to modify 

premium charges and the dollar amount limitation on 

loans for financing alterations, repairs, and improvements to, or conversion of, existing structures, including 

energy efficiency or water conserving home improvements, 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 ‘‘Solar and Water-Effi5 cient Homes Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MODIFICATION TO PREMIUM CHARGES ON FINANC2 ING CERTAIN ALTERATIONS, REPAIRS, AND 

3 IMPROVEMENTS TO, OR CONVERSIONS OF, 

4 EXISTING STRUCTURES. 

5 Subsection (f) of section 2 of the National Housing 

6 Act (12 U.S.C. 1703(f)) is amended— 

7 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘1 per centum 

8 per annum of the net proceeds of such loan, advance 

9 of credit, or purchase, for the term of such obliga10 tion’’ and inserting ‘‘1.5 per centum per year of the 

11 remaining insured principal balance (excluding the 

12 portion of such balance attributable to the premium 

13 that may be collected under paragraph (3) and with14 out taking into account delinquent payments or pre15 payments)’’; 

16 (2) by inserting at the end the following new 

17 paragraphs: 

18 ‘‘(3) UPFRONT PREMIUM CHARGE FOR FINANC19 ING ALTERATIONS, REPAIRS, IMPROVEMENTS, OR

20 CONVERSIONS.—In addition to the annual premium 

21 collected under paragraph (1), in the case of a loan, 

22 advance of credit, or purchase in connection with in23 surance granted under subparagraph (A)(i) or sub24 paragraph (B) of subsection (b)(1), the Secretary 

25 may, at the time of the making of the loan, advance 

26 of credit, or purchase, charge a single premium payVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Jul 10, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2982.IH H2982

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1 ment in an amount not to exceed 2.75 percent of the 

2 amount of the original insured principal obligation. 

3 Such premium charge shall be payable in advance by 

4 the financial institution in such manner as may be 

5 prescribed by the Secretary. 

6 ‘‘(4) INCREASE IN PREMIUM CHARGE LIMITA7 TIONS FOR FINANCING ALTERATIONS, REPAIRS, AND

8 IMPROVEMENTS, OR CONVERSIONS.—The Secretary 

9 may increase the limitations on premium payments 

10 to percentages greater than those set forth in para11 graphs (1) and (3), but only if necessary, and not 

12 in excess of the minimum increase necessary (as de13 termined based upon risk to the Federal Govern14 ment under existing underwriting requirements) to 

15 maintain a negative credit subsidy for insurance of 

16 loans, advances of credit, or purchases under sub17 paragraph (A)(i) or subparagraph (B) of subsection 

18 (b)(1).’’. 

19 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION TO CERTAIN INSURANCE CAPS AND 

20 LOAN LIMITATIONS. 

21 (a) MODIFICATION TO CAP ON INSURANCE TO FI22 NANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.—The second sentence of section 

23 2(a) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1703(a)) is 

24 amended by striking ‘‘in no case’’ and all that follows 

25 through the period at the end and inserting ‘‘the Secretary 


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1 may, by notice, establish additional requirements relating 

2 to the insurance granted under this section by any such 

3 financial institution.’’. 

4 (b) MODIFICATION TO LOAN LIMITATION FOR FI5 NANCING CERTAIN ALTERATIONS, REPAIRS, AND IM6 PROVEMENTS TO, OR CONVERSIONS OF, EXISTING STRUC7 TURES.—Subsection (b) of section 2 of such Act (12 

8 U.S.C. 1703(b)) is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

10 (A) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking 

11 ‘‘$25,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$42,000’’; and 

12 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 

13 (i) by striking ‘‘$60,000’’ and insert14 ing ‘‘$100,380’’; and 

15 (ii) by striking ‘‘$12,000’’ and insert16 ing ‘‘$20,076’’; and 

17 (C) in the matter after and below subpara18 graph (G), by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘The Secretary may, by notice, annually, in20 crease the dollar amount limitation in subpara21 graphs (A)(i) and (B) (as such limitation may 

22 have been previously adjusted under this sen23 tence) in accordance with the index established 

24 pursuant to paragraph (12).’’; and 


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1 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

2 paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(12) ANNUAL INDEXING OF LOANS FOR FI4 NANCING ALTERATIONS, REPAIRS, AND IMPROVE5 MENTS TO, OR CONVERSIONS OF, EXISTING STRUC6 TURES.—Not later than 1 year after the date of en7 actment of the ‘Solar and Water-Efficient Homes 

8 Act of 2015’, the Secretary shall develop a method 

9 of indexing to annually increase the dollar amount 

10 limitations established in subparagraphs (A)(i) and 

11 (B) of paragraph (1). Such index shall be based on 

12 consumer price index data on housing collected by 

13 the Bureau of Labor Statistics.’’. 

14 (c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—Section 2 of such 

15 Act (12 U.S.C. 1703) is amended— 

16 (1) in the fourth undesignated paragraph of 

17 subsection (a)— 

18 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

19 the end; and 

20 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe21 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

22 (2) in subsection (b)(1)— 

23 (A) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

24 ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 


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1 (B) in subparagraph (E), by striking the 

2 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’. 

3 SEC. 4. MODIFICATION TO LOAN LIMITATION FOR ENERGY 

4 EFFICIENCY AND WATER CONSERVING HOME 

5 IMPROVEMENTS. 

6 Subsection (b) of section 2 of the National Housing 

7 Act (12 U.S.C. 1703(b)), as amended by section 3(b) of 

8 this Act, is further amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(13) ADJUSTMENT FOR ENERGY CONSERVING

11 IMPROVEMENTS OR THE INSTALLATION OF SOLAR

12 ENERGY SYSTEMS.—The dollar amount limitations 

13 otherwise applicable under subparagraph (A)(i) and 

14 subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) (as adjusted by 

15 paragraph (12)) may be increased up to 150 percent 

16 of such limitation, but such increase may not exceed 

17 the dollar amount of the loan that will be used for 

18 purchasing or implementing energy conserving im19 provements or purchasing or installing solar energy 

20 systems (as such terms are defined in the last para21 graph of subsection (a)), or for purchasing or imple22 menting water conserving improvements (as defined 

23 by the Secretary).’’. 

Æ 


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