II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1st Session S. 1947

To prohibit the offer of credit by a financial institution to a financial 

institution examiner, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 24, 2003

Mr. LEAHY (for himself and Mr. HATCH) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed 

A BILL

To prohibit the offer of credit by a financial institution 

to a financial institution examiner, 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 ‘‘Preserving Independ5 ence of Financial Institution Examinations Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE OF CREDIT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title 18, United States Code, is 

8 amended by striking sections 212 and 213 and inserting 

9 the following: 
2

•S 1947 IS 

1 ‘‘§ 212. Offer of loan or gratuity to financial institu2 tion examiner 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

4 (b), whoever, being an officer, director or employee of a 

5 financial institution, makes or grants any loan or gratuity, 

6 to any examiner or assistant examiner who examines or 

7 has authority to examine such bank, branch, agency, orga8 nization, corporation, association, or institution—

9 ‘‘(1) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned 

10 not more than 1 year, or both; and 

11 ‘‘(2) may be fined a further sum equal to the 

12 money so loaned or gratuity given. 

13 ‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—A Federal financial institution 

14 regulatory agency may prescribe regulations establishing 

15 additional limitations on the application for and receipt 

16 of credit under this section and on the application and 

17 receipt of residential mortgage loans under this section, 

18 after consulting with each other Federal financial institu19 tion regulatory agency. 

20 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

21 ‘‘(1) EXAMINER.—The term ‘examiner’ means 

22 any person—

23 ‘‘(A) appointed by a Federal financial in24 stitution regulatory agency or pursuant to the 

25 laws of any State to examine a financial institu26 tion; or 
3

•S 1947 IS 

1 ‘‘(B) elected under the law of any State to 

2 conduct examinations of any financial institu3 tions. 

4 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTION REGU5 LATORY AGENCY.—The term ‘Federal financial insti6 tution regulatory agency’ means—

7 ‘‘(A) the Office of the Comptroller of the 

8 Currency; 

9 ‘‘(B) the Board of Governors of the Fed10 eral Reserve System; 

11 ‘‘(C) the Office of Thrift Supervision; 

12 ‘‘(D) the Federal Deposit Insurance Cor13 poration; 

14 ‘‘(E) the Federal Housing Finance Board; 

15 ‘‘(F) the Farm Credit Administration; 

16 ‘‘(G) the Farm Credit System Insurance 

17 Corporation; and 

18 ‘‘(H) the Small Business Administration. 

19 ‘‘(3) FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The term ‘fi20 nancial institution’ does not include a credit union, 

21 a Federal Reserve Bank, a Federal home loan bank, 

22 or a depository institution holding company. 

23 ‘‘(4) LOAN.—The term ‘loan’ does not include 

24 any credit card account established under an open 

25 end consumer credit plan or a loan secured by resi-
4

•S 1947 IS 

1 dential real property that is the principal residence 

2 of the examiner, if—

3 ‘‘(A) the applicant satisfies any financial 

4 requirements for the credit card account or res5 idential real property loan that are generally 

6 applicable to all applicants for the same type of 

7 credit card account or residential real property 

8 loan; 

9 ‘‘(B) the terms and conditions applicable 

10 with respect to such account or residential real 

11 property loan, and any credit extended to the 

12 examiner under such account or residential real 

13 property loan, are no more favorable generally 

14 to the examiner than the terms and conditions 

15 that are generally applicable to credit card ac16 counts or residential real property loans offered 

17 by the same financial institution to other bor18 rowers cardholders in comparable circumstances 

19 under open end consumer credit plans or for 

20 residential real property loans; and 

21 ‘‘(C) with respect to residential real prop22 erty loans, the loan is with respect to the pri23 mary residence of the applicant. 
5

•S 1947 IS 

1 ‘‘§ 213. Acceptance of loan or gratuity by financial in2 stitution examiner 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever, being an examiner or 

4 assistant examiner, accepts a loan or gratuity from any 

5 bank, branch, agency, organization, corporation, associa6 tion, or institution examined by the examiner or from any 

7 person connected with it, shall—

8 ‘‘(1) be fined under this title, imprisoned not 

9 more than 1 year, or both; 

10 ‘‘(2) may be fined a further sum equal to the 

11 money so loaned or gratuity given; and 

12 ‘‘(3) shall be disqualified from holding office as 

13 an examiner. 

14 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘exam15 iner’, ‘Federal financial institution regulatory agency’, ‘fi16 nancial institution’, and ‘loan’ have the same meanings as 

17 in section 212.’’. 

18 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

19 The table of sections of chapter 11 of title 18, United 

20 States Code, is amended by striking the matter relating 

21 to sections 212 and 213 and inserting the following:

‘‘212. Offer of loan or gratuity to financial institution examiner. 

‘‘213. Acceptance of loan or gratuity by financial institution examiner.’’.

Æ