I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 173

To amend the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to reduce onerous

recordkeeping and reporting requirements for regulated financial institutions, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 6, 1999

Mr. MCCOLLUM introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Banking and Financial Services

A BILL

To amend the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to

reduce onerous recordkeeping and reporting requirements

for regulated financial institutions, 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 ‘‘Community Reinvest5 ment Improvement Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. MODIFIED EVALUATIONS.

2 The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (12

3 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end

4 the following new section:

5 ‘‘SEC. 809. MODIFIED EVALUATIONS.

6 ‘‘(a) SCOPE.—In lieu of being evaluated under section

7 804 and receiving a written evaluation under section 807,

8 an institution’s record of meeting the credit needs of its

9 entire community with respect to any calendar year shall

10 be evaluated pursuant to this section if the institution—

11 ‘‘(1) has not been found to be in violation of

12 section 701(a) of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act,

13 or any other provision of such Act, during the five14 year period preceding such calendar year;

15 ‘‘(2) has not received a rating of ‘needs to im16 prove’ or ‘substantial noncompliance’ from the su17 pervisory agency in the most recent evaluation of the

18 institution under section 807;

19 ‘‘(3) has not been disqualified from evaluation

20 under this section by the supervisory agency pursu21 ant to a provision of this section; and

22 ‘‘(4) has, as of the December 31 preceding the

23 beginning of such calendar year, total assets of less

24 than $500,000,000.

25 The dollar amount in this subsection shall be adjusted an26 nually after December 31, 1998, by the annual percentage
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1 increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage

2 Earners and Clerical Workers published by the Bureau of

3 Labor Statistics.

4 ‘‘(b) MODIFIED EVALUATION.—An institution which

5 is described in subsection (a) with respect to any calendar

6 year shall, during such year—

7 ‘‘(1) maintain internal policies to help meet the

8 credit needs of its local community consistent with

9 the safe and sound operation of such institution;

10 ‘‘(2) declare in writing to the supervisory agen11 cy, at such time as the agency shall prescribe by reg12 ulation, that the institution—

13 ‘‘(A) is an institution described in sub14 section (a); and

15 ‘‘(B) is in compliance with this subsection;

16 ‘‘(3) display any notices as required by the su17 pervisory agency concerning the institution’s compli18 ance with the requirements of this Act; and

19 ‘‘(4) make available for public inspection the

20 following information regarding the record of such

21 institution in meeting the credit needs of its entire

22 community—

23 ‘‘(A) an identification of the community it

24 serves;
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1 ‘‘(B) a list of the types of credit offered by

2 the institution;

3 ‘‘(C) public comments received during such

4 year or any of the two years immediately pre5 ceding such year regarding the institution’s

6 service of the entire community’s credit needs;

7 and

8 ‘‘(D) copies of any declaration submitted

9 under subparagraph (2).

10 ‘‘(c) REGULATORY EVALUATION.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The supervisory agency

12 shall conduct an evaluation of an institution’s com13 pliance with this section in connection with its exam14 ination of such institution, or every two years,

15 whichever is more frequent.

16 ‘‘(2) NOTICE.—Upon commencing a compliance

17 evaluation pursuant to the section, the supervisory

18 agency shall provide public notice stating that it is

19 conducting such evaluation of the institution.

20 ‘‘(3) PROCEDURE.—In performing periodic

21 evaluations of institutions pursuant to subsection (c)

22 of this section, the supervisory agency—

23 ‘‘(A) shall review the institution’s existing

24 business records and shall not require the insti-
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1 tution to produce documentation other than ex2 isting business records, and

3 ‘‘(B) shall review any additional informa4 tion provided by the institution or other inter5 ested parties.

6 ‘‘(4) DISQUALIFICATION.—In addition to any

7 administrative enforcement action authorized under

8 any other provision of law, if the supervisory agency

9 determines after an evaluation under this subsection

10 that the institution is not in compliance with this

11 section, then the supervisory agency may determine

12 that the institution shall be disqualified from evalua13 tion under this section for such period as the agency

14 may determine to be appropriate.

15 ‘‘(e) PENALTIES.—In addition to any criminal or civil

16 penalty or any administrative enforcement action author17 ized under any other provision of law, if the supervisory

18 agency finds that an institution has intentionally submit19 ted false information to the supervisory agency or other20 wise willfully violated the requirements of subsection (b),

21 the institution shall be disqualified from evaluation under

22 this section such period, not to exceed ten years, as the

23 agency may determine to be appropriate.

24 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) ‘Institution’ means a regulated financial

2 institution meeting the requirements of subsection

3 (a).

4 ‘‘(2) ‘Supervisory agency’ means the appro5 priate Federal financial supervisory agency of a reg6 ulated financial institution.’’.

7 SEC. 3. EVALUATION EXEMPTION.

8 The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (12

9 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section

10 809 (as added by section 2 of this Act) the following new

11 section:

12 ‘‘SEC. 810. EVALUATION EXEMPTION.

13 ‘‘A regulated financial institution shall not be subject

14 to the evaluation requirements of this title or any regula15 tions issued under this title if—

16 ‘‘(1) the main office and each branch of such

17 institution is located in an incorporated city or town,

18 or an unincorporated place recognized by the Census

19 Bureau that has a population of not more than

20 twenty-five thousand persons; and

21 ‘‘(2) the aggregate assets of the institution and

22 any company which is a depository holding company

23 with respect to such institution (as defined in section

24 3(w) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act) are less

25 than $100,000,000.
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1 The dollar amount in this section shall be adjusted annu2 ally after December 31, 1998, by the annual percentage

3 increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage

4 Earners and Clerical Workers published by the Bureau of

5 Labor Statistics.’’.

6 SEC. 4. SAFE HARBOR.

7 The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (12

8 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section

9 810 (as added by section 3 of this Act) the following new

10 section:

11 ‘‘SEC. 811. SAFE HARBOR.

12 ‘‘Notwithstanding section 804(a)(2), an application

13 for a deposit facility by a regulated financial institution

14 shall not be denied on the basis of such institution’s com15 pliance with this Act if such institution in the previous

16 twenty-four months—

17 ‘‘(1) has received a rating of ‘Outstanding’ or

18 ‘Satisfactory’ from the appropriate Federal financial

19 supervisory agency in an evaluation of the institu20 tion under section 807 conducted, or

21 ‘‘(2) has been found to be in compliance with

22 section 809 in a regulatory review conducted under

23 section 809(c),
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1 unless such institution’s compliance has materially dete2 riorated since such evaluation.’’.

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