I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5453 

To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to establish an 

advisory opinion process for the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 10, 2016 

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

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

A BILL 

To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 

to establish an advisory opinion process for the Bureau 

of Consumer Financial Protection, 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 ‘‘Bureau Advisory Opin5 ion Act of 2016’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ADVISORY OPINIONS. 

2 Section 1022(b) of the Consumer Financial Protec3 tion Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5512(b)) is amended by add4 ing at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(5) ADVISORY OPINIONS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHING PROCEDURES.— 

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 

8 establish a procedure and, as necessary, 

9 promulgate rules to provide written opin10 ions in response to inquiries concerning the 

11 conformance of specific conduct with Fed12 eral consumer financial law. In establishing 

13 the procedure the Director shall consult 

14 with the prudential regulators and such 

15 other Federal departments and agencies as 

16 the Director determines appropriate, and 

17 obtain the views of all interested persons 

18 through a public notice and comment pe19 riod. 

20 ‘‘(ii) SCOPE OF REQUEST.—A request 

21 for an opinion under this paragraph must 

22 relate to specific proposed or prospective 

23 conduct by a covered person contemplating 

24 the proposed or prospective conduct. 

25 ‘‘(iii) SUBMISSION.—A request for an 

26 opinion under this paragraph may be subVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jun 14, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5453.IH H5453

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1 mitted to the Director either by or on be2 half of a covered person. 

3 ‘‘(iv) RIGHT TO WITHDRAW IN4 QUIRY.—Any inquiry under this paragraph 

5 may be withdrawn at any time prior to the 

6 Director issuing an opinion in response to 

7 such inquiry, and any opinion based on an 

8 inquiry that has been withdrawn shall have 

9 no force or effect. 

10 ‘‘(B) ISSUANCE OF OPINIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Director 

12 shall, within 90 days of receiving the re13 quest for an opinion under this paragraph, 

14 either— 

15 ‘‘(I) issue an opinion stating 

16 whether the described conduct would 

17 violate Federal consumer financial 

18 law; 

19 ‘‘(II) if permissible under clause 

20 (iii), deny the request; or 

21 ‘‘(III) explain why it is not fea22 sible to issue an opinion. 

23 ‘‘(ii) EXTENSION.—Notwithstanding 

24 clause (i), if the Director determines that 

25 the Bureau requires additional time to 


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1 issue an opinion, the Director may make a 

2 single extension of the deadline of 90 days 

3 or less. 

4 ‘‘(iii) DENIAL OF REQUESTS.—The 

5 Director shall not issue an opinion, and 

6 shall so inform the requestor, if the re7 quest for an opinion— 

8 ‘‘(I) asks a general question of 

9 interpretation; 

10 ‘‘(II) asks about a hypothetical 

11 situation; 

12 ‘‘(III) asks about the conduct of 

13 someone other than the covered per14 son on whose behalf the request is 

15 made; 

16 ‘‘(IV) asks about past conduct 

17 that the covered person on whose be18 half the request is made does not plan 

19 to continue in the future; or 

20 ‘‘(V) fails to provide necessary 

21 supporting information requested by 

22 the Bureau within a reasonable time 

23 established by the Bureau. 

24 ‘‘(iv) AMENDMENT AND REVOCA25 TION.—An advisory opinion issued under 


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1 this paragraph may be amended or revoked 

2 at any time. 

3 ‘‘(v) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—An opin4 ion rendered pursuant to this paragraph 

5 shall be placed in the Bureau’s public 

6 record 90 days after the requesting party 

7 has received the advice, subject to any lim8 itations on public disclosure arising from 

9 statutory restrictions, Bureau regulations, 

10 or the public interest. The Bureau shall re11 dact any personal, confidential, or identi12 fying information about the covered person 

13 or any other persons mentioned in the ad14 visory opinion, unless the covered person 

15 consents to such disclosure. 

16 ‘‘(vi) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The 

17 Bureau shall, concurrent with the semi-an18 nual report required under section 

19 1016(b), submit information regarding the 

20 number of requests for an advisory opinion 

21 received, the subject of each request, the 

22 number of requests denied pursuant to 

23 clause (iii), and the time needed to respond 

24 to each request. 


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1 ‘‘(C) RELIANCE ON OPINION.—Any person 

2 may rely on an opinion issued by the Director 

3 pursuant to this paragraph that has not been 

4 amended or withdrawn. No liability under Fed5 eral consumer financial law shall attach to con6 duct consistent with an advisory opinion that 

7 had not been amended or withdrawn at the time 

8 the conduct was undertaken. 

9 ‘‘(D) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Any document 

10 or other material that is received by the Bureau 

11 or any other Federal department or agency in 

12 connection with an inquiry under this para13 graph shall be exempt from disclosure under 

14 section 552 of title 5, United States Code (com15 monly referred to as the ‘Freedom of Informa16 tion Act’) and may not, except with the consent 

17 of the covered person making such inquiry, be 

18 made publicly available, regardless of whether 

19 the Director responds to such inquiry or the 

20 covered person withdraws such inquiry before 

21 receiving an opinion. 

22 ‘‘(E) ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL BUSI23 NESSES.— 

24 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Bureau shall 

25 assist, to the maximum extent practicable, 


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1 small businesses in preparing inquiries 

2 under this paragraph. 

3 ‘‘(ii) SMALL BUSINESS DEFINED.— 

4 For purposes of this subparagraph, the 

5 term ‘small business’ has the meaning 

6 given the term ‘small business concern’ 

7 under section 3 of the Small Business Act 

8 (15 U.S.C. 632). 

9 ‘‘(F) INQUIRY FEE.— 

10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 

11 develop a system to charge a fee for each 

12 inquiry made under this paragraph in an 

13 amount sufficient, in the aggregate, to pay 

14 for the cost of carrying out this paragraph. 

15 ‘‘(ii) NOTICE AND COMMENT.—Not 

16 later than 45 days after the date of the en17 actment of this paragraph, the Director 

18 shall publish a description of the fee sys19 tem described in clause (i) in the Federal 

20 Register and shall solicit comments from 

21 the public for a period of 60 days after 

22 publication. 

23 ‘‘(iii) FINALIZATION.—The Director 

24 shall publish a final description of the fee 

25 system and implement such fee system not 


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1 later than 30 days after the end of the 

2 public comment period described in clause 

3 (ii).’’. 

Æ 


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