II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 871 

To provide for an application process for interested parties to apply for 

an area to be designated as a rural area, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 26, 2015 

Mr. MCCONNELL (for himself, Mr. HELLER, Mrs. CAPITO, and Mr. PAUL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide for an application process for interested parties 

to apply for an area to be designated as a rural area, 

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 ‘‘Helping Expand Lend5 ing Practices in Rural Communities Act of 2015’’ or the 

6 ‘‘HELP Rural Communities Act of 2015’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF RURAL AREA. 

8 (a) APPLICATION.—Not later than 90 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Bureau of Consumer 


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1 Financial Protection shall establish an application process 

2 under which a person who lives or does business in a State 

3 may, with respect to an area identified by the person in 

4 such State that has not been designated by the Bureau 

5 as a rural area for purposes of a Federal consumer finan6 cial law (as defined under section 1002 of the Consumer 

7 Financial Protection Act of 2010), apply for such area to 

8 be so designated. 

9 (b) EVALUATION CRITERIA.—When evaluating an 

10 application submitted under subsection (a), the Bureau 

11 shall take into consideration the following factors: 

12 (1) Criteria used by the Director of the Bureau 

13 of the Census for classifying geographical areas as 

14 rural or urban. 

15 (2) Criteria used by the Director of the Office 

16 of Management and Budget to designate counties as 

17 metropolitan or micropolitan or neither. 

18 (3) Criteria used by the Secretary of Agri19 culture to determine property eligibility for rural de20 velopment programs. 

21 (4) The Department of Agriculture rural-urban 

22 commuting area codes. 

23 (5) A written opinion provided by the State’s 

24 bank supervisor, as defined under section 3(r) of the 

25 Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(r)). 


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1 (6) Population density. 

2 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—If, at any time prior 

3 to the submission of an application under subsection (a), 

4 the area subject to review has been designated as nonrural 

5 by any Federal agency described under subsection (b) 

6 using any of the criteria described under subsection (b), 

7 the Bureau shall not be required to consider such designa8 tion in its evaluation. 

9 (d) PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

11 receiving an application submitted under subsection 

12 (a), the Bureau shall— 

13 (A) publish such application in the Federal 

14 Register; and 

15 (B) make such application available for 

16 public comment for not fewer than 90 days. 

17 (2) LIMITATION ON ADDITIONAL APPLICA18 TIONS.—Nothing in this section shall be construed 

19 to require the Bureau, during the public comment 

20 period with respect to an application submitted 

21 under subsection (a), to accept an additional appli22 cation with respect to the area that is the subject of 

23 the initial application. 


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1 (e) DECISION ON DESIGNATION.—Not later than 90 

2 days after the end of the public comment period under 

3 subsection (d)(1) for an application, the Bureau shall— 

4 (1) grant or deny such application, in whole or 

5 in part; and 

6 (2) publish such grant or denial in the Federal 

7 Register, along with an explanation of what factors 

8 the Bureau relied on in making such determination. 

9 (f) SUBSEQUENT APPLICATIONS.—A decision by the 

10 Bureau under subsection (e) to deny an application for 

11 an area to be designated as a rural area shall not preclude 

12 the Bureau from accepting a subsequent application sub13 mitted under subsection (a) for such area to be so des14 ignated, so long as such subsequent application is made 

15 after the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date 

16 that the Bureau denies the application under subsection 

17 (e). 

18 (g) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to have any 

19 force or effect after the end of the 2-year period beginning 

20 on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

21 SEC. 3. OPERATIONS IN RURAL AREAS. 

22 The Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) 

23 is amended— 

24 (1) in section 129C(b)(2)(E)(iv)(I), by striking 

25 ‘‘predominantly’’; and 


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1 (2) in section 129D(c)(1), by striking ‘‘pre2 dominantly’’. 

Æ 


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