I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 759 

To prohibit the Secretary of Labor from enforcing any requirement that 

consumer reporting agencies that serve only as a secure conduit to 

data from State unemployment compensation agencies obtain and maintain an individual’s informed consent agreement when verifying income 

and employment with such agencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 31, 2017 

Mr. ELLISON (for himself and Mr. RENACCI) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To prohibit the Secretary of Labor from enforcing any requirement that consumer reporting agencies that serve 

only as a secure conduit to data from State unemployment compensation agencies obtain and maintain an individual’s informed consent agreement when verifying income and employment with such agencies, 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 ‘‘Ability to Repay 

5 Verification Enabling Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Economic growth requires access to afford4 able credit which depends on consumers’ ability to 

5 understand the terms of any loans they make and 

6 the ability of lenders to have an understanding of 

7 the consumers’ ability and willingness to repay 

8 loans. 

9 (2) New laws enacted by Congress require lend10 ers to ascertain borrowers’ willingness and ability to 

11 repay prior to making a loan. 

12 (3) Lenders and consumers receive benefits 

13 such as quicker approval, lower interest rates, pro14 tection of privacy, and stronger anti-fraud protec15 tions from automatic underwriting utilizing existing 

16 databases. 

17 (4) Eleven States (Alabama, California, Flor18 ida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, New 

19 York, Ohio, Oregon, and Virginia) passed enabling 

20 legislation or rules enabling consumers who request 

21 that third parties using consumer report information 

22 for purposes of eligibility determination have effi23 cient access to this information from the State’s un24 employment insurance database. 

25 (5) Fair Credit Reporting Act requirements al26 ready require third parties using consumer report inVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 07, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H759.IH H759

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1 formation for purposes of eligibility determination to 

2 obtain and maintain consent agreements. 

3 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON REQUIREMENT FOR ONWARD 

4 TRANSFER OF CONSENT AGREEMENTS. 

5 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec6 retary of Labor may not— 

7 (1) take any action to implement or enforce the 

8 requirement described in the Unemployment Insur9 ance Program Letter No. 19–12, dated May 23, 

10 2012, that a third-party consumer reporting agency 

11 that serves only as a secure conduit to data from 

12 State unemployment compensation agencies and that 

13 is not an agent of an individual obtain and maintain 

14 an informed consent agreement from such individual 

15 if the third-party consumer reporting agency seeks 

16 to obtain confidential unemployment compensation 

17 information with respect to such individual from a 

18 State; or 

19 (2) issue, implement, administer, or enforce any 

20 rule or other guidance that is the same as, or similar 

21 in effect to, the requirement described in paragraph 

22 (1). 

Æ 


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