I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3939 

To require the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to carry 

out a quantitative impact study of any proposed real-time payment system under the Faster Payments Initiative before implementing such 

system. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 24, 2019 

Mr. BUDD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To require the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System to carry out a quantitative impact study of any 

proposed real-time payment system under the Faster 

Payments Initiative before implementing such system. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. QUANTITATIVE IMPACT STUDY REQUIREMENT. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Board of Governors of the 

5 Federal Reserve System may not take any steps to de6 velop, build, or otherwise implement any proposed real7 time payment system or any component thereof (including 

8 a settlement service, liquidity management service, or auxVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:43 Aug 04, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3939.IH H3939

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1 iliary services) under the Faster Payments Initiative until 

2 after the end of the 1-year period beginning on the date 

3 that the Board of Governors issues a detailed report to 

4 the Congress on a comprehensive study of the proposed 

5 real-time payment system that includes a quantitative im6 pact component. 

7 (b) CONTENTS OF STUDY.—The study described 

8 under subsection (a) shall include the following: 

9 (1) Any cybersecurity, privacy concerns, or 

10 other risks associated with the Federal government 

11 receiving and managing new transaction-level infor12 mation regarding millions of American citizens, in13 cluding a threat assessment. 

14 (2) Whether the Board of Governors would be 

15 subject to privacy and security laws and regulations 

16 such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the 

17 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, like other payment proc18 essors. 

19 (3) Where customer information would be 

20 stored. 

21 (4) Who would oversee such information. 

22 (5) Whether the Board of Governors would cre23 ate a database to view customer transactions. 

24 (6) An analysis of whether the private sector 

25 can provide the system or achieve the objectives of 


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1 the system with reasonable effectiveness, scope, and 

2 equity. 

3 (7) Whether the Board of Governors has con4 cluded that the private sector cannot achieve the ob5 jectives that the Board of Governors seeks to achieve 

6 with the system. 

7 (8) The potential adverse consequences to the 

8 private sector in the short term and the long if the 

9 Board of Governors offers the system. 

10 (9) Whether the Board of Governors could 

11 achieve the Board’s objectives without offering the 

12 system, but rather by making changes to its current 

13 infrastructure, for example by expanding the oper14 ating hours of the National Settlement Service or 

15 enhancing the Automated Clearing House’s same16 day payment capabilities or modernizing the Auto17 mated Clearing House to serve as a backup to the 

18 existing operating network. 

19 (10) How the Board of Governors would col20 laborate with the private sector to ensure interoper21 ability. 

22 (11) As a regulator of depository institutions 

23 and their holding companies, how the Board of Gov24 ernors would ensure that the Board does not exert 


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1 undue influence over such institutions and holding 

2 companies to use the system. 

3 (12) How the Board of Governors would ensure 

4 that the system would be available to all depository 

5 institutions, including community banks, and credit 

6 unions, in a manner that is not cost prohibitive. 

7 (13) The estimate of the Board of Governors 

8 for— 

9 (A) how long it would take to build the in10 frastructure and begin operation of the system; 

11 (B) how much the system would cost; 

12 (C) the annual operating cost of the sys13 tem; and 

14 (D) how long it would take for the Board 

15 to recover the costs of building the system. 

16 (14) A study of the quantitative impact of each 

17 of the factors in paragraphs (1) through (13), as ap18 plicable. 

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