I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4331 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to establish the Office of Money 

Services Business Compliance within the Department of the Treasury 

for the purpose of assuring compliance with subchapter II of chapter 

53 of such title by money services businesses and such other duties 

as the Secretary of the Treasury may delegate, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 16, 2009 

Mr. BACHUS (for himself, Mr. GUTIERREZ, and Mr. TIBERI) introduced the 

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

A BILL 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to establish the 

Office of Money Services Business Compliance within 

the Department of the Treasury for the purpose of assuring compliance with subchapter II of chapter 53 of such 

title by money services businesses and such other duties 

as the Secretary of the Treasury may delegate, 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 ‘‘Money Services Busi5 ness Compliance Facilitation Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF MONEY SERVICES BUSINESS COMPLI2 ANCE ESTABLISHED. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 3 of title 

4 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting after sec5 tion 313 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘§ 314. Office of Money Services Business Compliance 

7 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established 

8 the Office of Money Services Business Compliance (here9 after in this section referred to as the ‘Compliance Office’) 

10 as an office within the Department of the Treasury. 

11 ‘‘(b) MANAGEMENT.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The management of the 

13 Compliance Office shall be vested in a Director of 

14 Money Services Business Compliance (hereafter in 

15 this section referred to as the ‘Director’). 

16 ‘‘(2) APPOINTMENT.—The Director shall be ap17 pointed by the President, by and with the advice and 

18 consent of the Senate, without regard to political af19 filiation and solely on the basis of integrity and dem20 onstrated ability, and after consultation with the 

21 Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal 

22 Reserve System and the Comptroller of the Currency 

23 (or successor to any such individual with regard to 

24 bank supervisory authority), from among individuals 

25 who are specially qualified to serve in that position 


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1 by reason of their education, training, and experi2 ence. 

3 ‘‘(3) TERM OF OFFICE.— 

4 ‘‘(A) The Director shall be appointed for a 

5 term of 5 years. 

6 ‘‘(B) VACANCY.—A vacancy in the position 

7 of Director shall be filled in the manner the 

8 original appointment was made and any indi9 vidual appointed to fill any such vacancy shall 

10 be appointed only for the remainder of the term 

11 in which the vacancy occurs. 

12 ‘‘(4) REMOVAL.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para14 graph (3), the Director may be removed by the 

15 President at any time for good cause. 

16 ‘‘(B) NOTICE TO THE CONGRESS.—Upon 

17 the removal of a Director under subparagraph 

18 (A), the President shall promptly transmit a 

19 notice to the Congress of the removal together 

20 with a detailed explanation of the basis for the 

21 removal. 

22 ‘‘(C) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—After 

23 providing notice under subparagraph (B), the 

24 President shall promptly respond to any request 

25 by any committee of the Senate or the House 


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1 of Representatives for additional information or 

2 supporting documents. 

3 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The duties of the Director 

5 shall be to assure compliance by money services 

6 businesses with all applicable requirements of sub7 chapter II of chapter 53, regulations prescribed 

8 under such subchapter and any other duty delegated 

9 by the Secretary under paragraph (3). 

10 ‘‘(2) REGISTRATION OF MONEY SERVICES BUSI11 NESSES.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No person may oper13 ate a money services business without reg14 istering annually, to the satisfaction of the Di15 rector under this paragraph. 

16 ‘‘(B) CRITERIA.—The Director, in con17 sultation with the Secretary, the appropriate 

18 Federal banking agencies, and appropriate rep19 resentative State officials, shall establish such 

20 procedures and criteria for registration, com21 mensurate with the purposes of this section, as 

22 the Director determines to be appropriate. 

23 ‘‘(C) REGISTRATION AS COMPLIANCE.— 

24 Any money services business registered to the 

25 satisfaction of the Director under this section 


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1 shall be deemed to be registered with the Sec2 retary for purposes of section 5330. 

3 ‘‘(D) COMPLIANCE.—Any money services 

4 business, and any agent of a money services 

5 business, which fails to register and keep cur6 rent a registration to the satisfaction of the 

7 Secretary under this paragraph shall, after the 

8 expiration of a 30-day period beginning on a 

9 notice of violation issued by the Director or an 

10 agent recognized by the Director, be subject to 

11 the same penalties as described in subsection 

12 (f)(3)(D) for a violation of an order issued 

13 under subsection (f)(3). 

14 ‘‘(3) DELEGATED FUNCTIONS.—The Director 

15 shall carry out any other duty delegated by the Sec16 retary of the Treasury to the Director. 

17 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—No provision of this 

18 section shall be construed as limiting or pre-empting any 

19 State law or regulation or order concerning the regulation 

20 and oversight of the money service business industry, or 

21 agents of money services businesses, for purposes of con22 sumer protection, safety and soundness, or the prevention 

23 of money laundering or the financing of terrorism. 

24 ‘‘(e) RECOGNITION OF SELF-REGULATORY ORGANI25 ZATIONS RELATING TO MONEY SERVICES BUSINESSES.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) REGISTRATION.—The Director may, after 

2 notice and opportunity for comment and upon appli3 cation by an organization representing money serv4 ices business that meets such criteria as the Director 

5 may establish under this section, approve the reg6 istration of such organization as a self regulatory or7 ganization to carry out the duties of the Director 

8 under paragraph (1) with respect to the money serv9 ices businesses represented by such self regulatory 

10 organization. 

11 ‘‘(2) PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS FOR

12 SRO.—The Director shall establish such procedures 

13 and requirements to become a self regulatory organi14 zation as the Secretary determines to be appro15 priate, including periodic reviews of such organiza16 tion and reporting requirements by such organiza17 tion to the Director to ensure the success of such or18 ganizations in ensuring compliance by the money 

19 services businesses, taking into account in particular 

20 the requirements of subsections (g), (h), (l), (m), 

21 and (n) of section 5318 and section 5318A. 

22 ‘‘(3) WITHDRAWAL OF REGISTRATION.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—After notice and op24 portunity for hearing, the Director may with25 draw the registration of any self regulatory orVerDate Nov 24 2008 07:23 Dec 18, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4331.IH H4331

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1 ganization previously approved under this sub2 section. 

3 ‘‘(B) NOTICE TO THE CONGRESS.—Upon 

4 the withdrawal of the registration of any self 

5 regulatory organization under subparagraph 

6 (A), the Director shall promptly submit a notice 

7 to the Congress of the withdrawal together with 

8 a detailed explanation of the basis for the with9 drawal. 

10 ‘‘(C) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—After 

11 providing notice under subparagraph (B), the 

12 Director shall promptly respond to any request 

13 by any committee of the Senate or the House 

14 of Representatives for additional information or 

15 supporting documents. 

16 ‘‘(4) REQUIREMENTS FOR RULES ENFORCED BY

17 SELF REGULATORY ORGANIZATION.—The Director 

18 may establish minimum requirements for— 

19 ‘‘(A) rules established by any self regu20 latory organization for members regulated by 

21 the organization; 

22 ‘‘(B) enforcement procedures and enforce23 ment activities by self regulatory organization, 

24 with respect to the enforcement of the rules re25 ferred to in subparagraph (A); and 


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1 ‘‘(C) requirements established by a self 

2 regulatory organization for withdrawal of mem3 bership of any noncomplying member, monetary 

4 penalties, and the removal of officers and em5 ployees of a noncomplying member business. 

6 ‘‘(5) NOTICE REQUIREMENTS.—The Director 

7 shall establish procedures under which any self regu8 latory organization shall report to the Congress on 

9 a regular basis on— 

10 ‘‘(A) violations by members of the organi11 zation of any law, any regulation prescribed by 

12 the Director, or any rule established by the or13 ganization since the date of the last report; and 

14 ‘‘(B) any enforcement actions taken by the 

15 organization since such date. 

16 ‘‘(f) POWERS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of carrying 

18 out this section, the Director shall have all the pow19 ers of the Secretary under subsections (b), (c), (d), 

20 and (e) of section 5318. 

21 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—No provision 

22 of this section shall be construed as limiting or su23 perseding the enforcement authority of the Secretary 

24 under subchapter II of chapter 53 with respect to 

25 any violation of such subchapter. 


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1 ‘‘(3) CEASE AND DESIST.— 

2 ‘‘(A) DETERMINATION OF VIOLATION.—If 

3 the Director determines that any money serv4 ices business, or any officer, director, agent, or 

5 employee of any such business, may be violating 

6 or may have violated this section, subchapter II 

7 of chapter 53, or any other provision of law or 

8 any regulation subject to the jurisdiction of the 

9 Secretary, or may be about to violate such sec10 tion, subchapter, or provision of law or regula11 tion, the Director may issue a temporary order 

12 or permanent order directing such money serv13 ices business, and any officer, director, agent, 

14 or employee of such money services business— 

15 ‘‘(i) to cease and desist from the viola16 tion or threatened violation; 

17 ‘‘(ii) to take such action as is nec18 essary to prevent the violation or threat19 ened violation; or 

20 ‘‘(iii) to take such action as is nec21 essary to prevent, as the Director deter22 mines to be appropriate— 

23 ‘‘(I) significant harm to con24 sumers or the public interest; or 


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1 ‘‘(II) frustration of the ability of 

2 the Director to conduct the pro3 ceedings or to redress the violation at 

4 the conclusion of the proceedings. 

5 ‘‘(B) TIMING OF ENTRY.—An order issued 

6 under this paragraph shall be entered only after 

7 notice and opportunity for a hearing, unless the 

8 Director determines that notice and hearing 

9 prior to entry would be impracticable or con10 trary to the public interest. 

11 ‘‘(C) EFFECTIVE DATE OF TEMPORARY

12 ORDER.—A temporary order issued under this 

13 paragraph shall— 

14 ‘‘(i) become effective upon service 

15 upon the respondent; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) unless set aside, limited, or sus17 pended by the Director or a court of com18 petent jurisdiction, remain effective and 

19 enforceable pending the completion of the 

20 proceedings. 

21 ‘‘(D) ENFORCEMENT.—Any money services 

22 business, and any officer, director, agent, or 

23 employee of such money services business, 

24 which violates any temporary or permanent 

25 order issued under this paragraph shall forfeit 


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1 and pay a civil penalty of not more than $5,000 

2 for each day during which such violation con3 tinues. 

4 ‘‘(E) ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary shall 

5 assess any penalty in the same manner and 

6 subject to the same limitations as assessments 

7 under section 5321(b). 

8 ‘‘(g) MONEY SERVICES BUSINESS DEFINED.—For 

9 purposes of this section, the term ‘money services busi10 ness’ has the meaning given to the term in section 

11 103.11(uu) of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, as 

12 in effect on the date of the enactment of the Money Serv13 ices Business Compliance Facilitation Act of 2009. 

14 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

15 is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for each 

16 of fiscal years 2010, 2011, and 2012 such sums as may 

17 be necessary to carry out this section, to be made available 

18 to the Director. 

19 ‘‘(i) LONG-TERM FUNDING PLANNING.—Before the 

20 end of the 18-month period beginning on the date of the 

21 enactment of the Money Services Business Compliance 

22 Facilitation Act of 2009, the Director shall submit a re23 port to the Congress containing recommendations for an 

24 appropriate long-term funding model for the Compliance 


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1 Office to ensure the independence of the Compliance Of2 fice.’’. 

3 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

4 Section 111 of the Act approved on October 28, 1974 (12 

5 U.S.C. 250), is amended by inserting ‘‘the Director of 

6 Money Services Business Compliance,’’ after ‘‘Director of 

7 the Office of Thrift Supervision,’’. 

8 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of section for 

9 chapter 3 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by 

10 inserting after the item relating to section 313 the fol11 lowing new item: 

‘‘314. Office of Money Services Business Compliance.’’. 

Æ 


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