I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3828 

To temporarily suspend the approval or certification of any housing counseling 

agencies of ACORN or its affiliates and require the Inspector General 

of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to conduct an 

audit of any assistance provided by the Department to ACORN and 

its affiliates, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 15, 2009 

Mrs. BIGGERT (for herself, Mr. KIRK, Mr. LEE of New York, Mr. GERLACH, 

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. PAUL, Mrs. CAPITO, 

Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. PUTNAM, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. 

CULBERSON, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr. 

ROE of Tennessee, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. UPTON, Mr. KING of New York, 

Mr. JONES, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. CHAFFETZ, Mr. BACHUS, Mrs. 

BACHMANN, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, and Mr. MCHENRY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To temporarily suspend the approval or certification of any 

housing counseling agencies of ACORN or its affiliates 

and require the Inspector General of the Department 

of Housing and Urban Development to conduct an audit 

of any assistance provided by the Department to ACORN 

and its affiliates, 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 ‘‘Suspend ACORN Cer3 tification Act of 2009’’. 

4 SEC. 2. AUDIT AND SUSPENSION OF HOUSING COUNSELING 

5 APPROVAL. 

6 (a) AUDIT.—Not later than the expiration of the 6- 

7 month period beginning on the date of the enactment of 

8 this Act, the Inspector General of the Department of 

9 Housing and Urban Development shall— 

10 (1) with respect to each covered organization, 

11 conduct an audit of all assistance within the jurisdic12 tion of the Department provided to such covered or13 ganization at any time; and 

14 (2) make a determination of whether each such 

15 covered organization has used such assistance in ac16 cordance with all laws, regulations, and other terms 

17 and conditions of such assistance and cause notice 

18 of such determination to be published in the Federal 

19 Register. 

20 (b) SUSPENSION OF HOUSING COUNSELING CERTIFI21 CATION AND ASSISTANCE.—After the date of the enact22 ment of this Act— 

23 (1) no covered organization shall be considered 

24 approved, certified, or authorized under section 

25 106(e) of the Housing and Urban Development Act 

26 of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701x(e)) or otherwise to proVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:05 Oct 16, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3828.IH H3828

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1 vide housing counseling in connection with any pro2 gram of the Department or to receive any assistance 

3 within the jurisdiction of the Department for any 

4 housing counseling activities unless and until the In5 spector General of the Department of Housing and 

6 Urban Development has made a determination 

7 under subsection (c) with respect to all such organi8 zations; and 

9 (2) the Secretary of Housing and Urban Devel10 opment shall not provide any assistance within the 

11 jurisdiction of the Department for any housing coun12 seling activities to a covered organization unless and 

13 until the Inspector General has made a determina14 tion under subsection (c) with respect to all such or15 ganizations. 

16 (c) DETERMINATION.—A determination under this 

17 subsection is a determination, pursuant to the audit con18 ducted under subsection (a), that all covered organizations 

19 that, at any time, have received assistance within the juris20 diction of the Department have used all such assistance 

21 received in accordance with all laws, regulations, and other 

22 terms and conditions of such assistance. 

23 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

24 For purposes of this Act, the following definitions 

25 shall apply: 


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1 (1) COVERED ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘cov2 ered organization’’ means— 

3 (A) the Association of Community Organi4 zations for Reform Now (in this section re5 ferred to as ACORN); and 

6 (B) any ACORN-related affiliate. 

7 (2) ACORN-RELATED AFFILIATE.—The term 

8 ‘‘ACORN-related affiliate’’ means any of the fol9 lowing: 

10 (A) Any State chapter of ACORN reg11 istered with the Secretary of State’s office in 

12 that State. 

13 (B) Any organization that shares directors 

14 or employees with ACORN. 

15 (C) Any organization that has a financial 

16 stake, directly or indirectly, in ACORN. 

17 (D) Any organization whose finances, 

18 whether federally funded, donor-funded, or 

19 raised through organizational goods and serv20 ices, are shared or controlled, directly or indi21 rectly, by ACORN. 

22 (3) ASSISTANCE WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF

23 THE DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘assistance within 

24 the jurisdiction of the Department’’ has the meaning 

25 given such term in section 102(m) of the DepartVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:05 Oct 16, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3828.IH H3828

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1 ment of Housing and Urban Development Reform 

2 Act of 1989 (42 U.S.C. 3545(m)). 

Æ 


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