I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3372
To amend the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to permit the collection of
demographic information in connection with small business loan applica-
tions with the applicant’s consent, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 29, 2001
Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. RUSH, Ms. SLAUGHTER,
Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, and Mr. GUTIERREZ) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
A BILL
To amend the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to permit the
collection of demographic information in connection with
small business loan applications with the applicant’s con-
sent, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Access and Openness
in Small Business Lending Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS LOAN DATA COLLECTION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Equal Credit Opportunity
Act (15 U.S.C. 1691 et seq.) is amended by inserting after
section 704A the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 704B. SMALL BUSINESS LOAN DATA COLLECTION.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the requirements of
this section, in the case of any application to a depository
institution for credit for a small business, the depository
institution shall—
‘‘(1) inquire whether the business is a women-
or minority-owned business, without regard to
whether such application is received in person, by
mail, by telephone, by electronic mail or other form
of electronic transmission, or by any other means
and whether or not such application is in response
to a solicitation by the depository institution; and
‘‘(2) maintain a record of the responses to such
inquiry separate from the application and accom-
panying information.
‘‘(b) RIGHT TO REFUSE.—Any applicant for credit
may refuse to provide any information requested pursuant
to subsection (a) in connection with any application for
credit.
‘‘(c) NO ACCESS BY UNDERWRITERS.—No loan un-
derwriter or other officer or employee of the depository
institution, or any affiliate of the depository institution,
involved in making any determination concerning an appli-
cation for credit shall have access to any information pro-
vided by the applicant pursuant to a request under sub-
section (a) in connection with such application.
‘‘(d) FORM AND MANNER OF INFORMATION.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each depository institution
shall compile and maintain, in accordance with regu-
lations of the Board, a record of the information
provided by any loan applicant pursuant to a request
under subsection (a).
‘‘(2) ITEMIZED.—Information compiled and
maintained under paragraph (1) shall also be
itemized in order to clearly and conspicuously dis-
close the following:
‘‘(A) The number of the application and
the date the application was received.
‘‘(B) The type and purpose of the loan or
other credit being applied for.
‘‘(C) The amount of the credit or credit
limit applied for and the amount of the credit
transaction or the credit limit approved for such
applicant.
‘‘(D) The type of action taken with respect
to such application and the date of such action.
‘‘(E) The census tract in which is located
the principal place of business of the small busi-
ness loan applicant.
‘‘(F) The gross annual revenue of the busi-
ness in the last fiscal year of the small business
loan applicant preceding the date of the appli-
cation.
‘‘(3) NO PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMA-
TION.—In compiling and maintaining any record of
information under this section, a depository institu-
tion may not include in such record the name, spe-
cific address (other than the census tract required
under paragraph (1)(E)), telephone number, elec-
tronic mail address, and any other personally identi-
fiable information concerning any individual who is,
or is connected with, the small business loan appli-
cant.
‘‘(e) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—
‘‘(1) SUBMISSION TO AGENCIES.—The data re-
quired to be compiled and maintained under this
section by any depository institution shall be sub-
mitted annually to the agency to whom the enforce-
ment of the requirements of this title are committed
under section 704.
‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY
OF
INFORMATION.—Infor-
mation compiled and maintained under this section
shall be retained for not less than 3 years after the
date of preparation and shall be made available to
the public, upon request, in the form required under
regulations prescribed by the Board.
‘‘(f) EXEMPTION FOR SMALL INSTITUTIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section shall not apply
to any depository institution the total assets of
which are equal to or less than the exemption
amount as of the end of the last full fiscal year of
the depository institution preceding the date of the
small business loan application.
‘‘(2) EXEMPTION
AMOUNT.—For purposes of
paragraph (1), the exemption amount is the amount
determined under subsection (a) of section 309 of
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 (taking into
account the adjustments required under subsection
(b) of such section).
‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.— For purposes of this section,
the following definitions shall apply:
‘‘(1) DEPOSITORY INSTITUTION.—The term ‘de-
pository institution’—
‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term in
section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act;
and
‘‘(B) includes any credit union.
‘‘(2) MINORITY-OWNED
BUSINESS.—The term
‘minority-owned business’ means a business—
‘‘(A) more than 50 percent of the owner-
ship or control of which is held by 1 or more
minority individuals; and
‘‘(B) more than 50 percent of the net prof-
it or loss of which accrues to 1 or more minor-
ity individuals.
‘‘(3) WOMEN-OWNED
BUSINESS.—The term
‘women-owned business’ means a business—
‘‘(A) more than 50 percent of the owner-
ship or control of which is held by 1 or more
women; and
‘‘(B) more than 50 percent of the net prof-
it or loss of which accrues to 1 or more women.
‘‘(4) MINORITY.—The term ‘minority’ has the
meaning given to such term by section 1204(c)(3) of
the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and En-
forcement Act of 1989.
‘‘(5) SMALL BUSINESS LOAN.—The term ‘small
business loan’ includes any loan described or defined
as a small business loan under any of the following
provisions of title 12 of the Code of Federal Regula-
tions (as in effect on the date of the enactment of
the Access and Openness in Small Business Lending
Act of 2001):
‘‘(A) Section 25.12(u) of subpart A of part
25.
‘‘(B) Section 228.12(u) of part 228.
‘‘(C) Section 345.12(u) of part 345.
‘‘(D) Section 563e(t) of part 563e.’’.
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
Section 701(b) of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15
U.S.C. 1691(b)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon at the
end of paragraph (3);
(2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at
the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (4), the fol-
lowing new paragraph:
‘‘(5) to make an inquiry under section 704B in
accordance with the requirements of such section.’’.
(c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections
for title VII of the Consumer Credit Protection Act is
amended by inserting after the item relating to section
704A the following new item:
‘‘704B. Small business loan data collection.’’.
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section and the amend-
ments made by this section shall take effect at the end
of the l-month period beginning on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act.
Æ