II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1564 

To require the Securities and Exchange Commission and certain Federal 

agencies to carry out a study relating to accounting standards, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2019 

Mr. TILLIS (for himself, Mr. MORAN, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. COTTON, Mr. 

PERDUE, and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 

Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Securities and Exchange Commission and 

certain Federal agencies to carry out a study relating 

to accounting standards, 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 ‘‘Continued Encourage5 ment for Consumer Lending Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 


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•S 1564 IS

1 (1) the term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con2 gress’’ means— 

3 (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

4 and Urban Affairs of the Senate; and 

5 (B) the Committee on Financial Services 

6 of the House of Representatives; 

7 (2) the term ‘‘CECL’’ means the accounting 

8 standard in ‘‘Accounting Standards Update 2016– 

9 13, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 

10 326)’’, issued by the Financial Accounting Stand11 ards Board in June 2016, as amended by ‘‘Account12 ing Standards Update 2018–19, Codification Im13 provements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments— 

14 Credit Losses’’, issued by the Financial Accounting 

15 Standards Board in November 2018; 

16 (3) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Securi17 ties and Exchange Commission; 

18 (4) the term ‘‘Federal financial regulators’’ 

19 means— 

20 (A) the Secretary of the Treasury; 

21 (B) the Board of Governors of the Federal 

22 Reserve System; 

23 (C) the Bureau of Consumer Financial 

24 Protection; 

25 (D) the Comptroller of the Currency; 


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1 (E) the Commodity Futures Trading Com2 mission; 

3 (F) the Federal Deposit Insurance Cor4 poration; 

5 (G) the Director of the Federal Housing 

6 Finance Agency; and 

7 (H) the National Credit Union Administra8 tion; and 

9 (5) the term ‘‘small business concern’’ has the 

10 meaning given the term in section 3(a) of the Small 

11 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)). 

12 SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORT. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission and the Federal 

14 financial regulators, in consultation with the Financial Ac15 counting Standards Board, shall conduct a quantitative 

16 study of— 

17 (1) the potential impact that the implementa18 tion of CECL may have on the availability of credit, 

19 with a particular focus on the impact on that avail20 ability— 

21 (A) for consumers and small business con22 cerns; and 

23 (B) with respect to the credit products on 

24 which consumers and small business concerns 


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1 rely during periods of economic expansion and 

2 during recessions; 

3 (2) whether implementing CECL could— 

4 (A) accelerate the depletion of regulatory 

5 capital that is available for lending purposes 

6 during a recession; 

7 (B) have a greater impact on regulatory 

8 capital, or extend the period in which regulatory 

9 capital is reduced, during a recession; or 

10 (C) pose any other systemic risks to the 

11 economy of the United States; 

12 (3) the potentially disproportionate impact that 

13 the implementation of CECL may have on financial 

14 institutions, taking into account— 

15 (A) the various sizes and levels of com16 plexity of those financial institutions; and 

17 (B) the different amounts of resources that 

18 are available to those financial institutions; 

19 (4) the potential impact that the implementa20 tion of CECL may have on the decisions made by 

21 investors; and 

22 (5) the potential competitive impact that the 

23 implementation of CECL may have on institutions 

24 in the United States as a result of differing interVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1564.IS S1564

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1 national accounting standards used to measure cred2 it loss. 

3 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

4 of enactment of this Act, the Commission and the Federal 

5 financial regulators shall submit to the Financial Account6 ing Standards Board and the appropriate committees of 

7 Congress a report— 

8 (1) regarding the results of the study conducted 

9 under subsection (a); and 

10 (2) that shall include— 

11 (A) the identification of any negative im12 pacts resulting from the implementation of 

13 CECL; and 

14 (B) recommendations for changes to 

15 CECL to eliminate or mitigate the negative im16 pacts described in subparagraph (A). 

17 SEC. 4. DELAY IN IMPLEMENTATION OF CECL. 

18 During the period beginning on the date of enactment 

19 of this Act and ending on the date that is 1 year after 

20 the date on which the Commission and the Federal finan21 cial regulators submit the report required under section 

22 3(b), neither the Commission nor any of the Federal fi23 nancial regulators may require a person to comply with 

24 CECL. 

Æ 


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