I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5453 
To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to establish an 
advisory opinion process for the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protec-
tion, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 10, 2016 
Mr. POSEY (for himself and Mr. HECK of Washington) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 
to establish an advisory opinion process for the Bureau 
of Consumer Financial Protection, and for other pur-
poses. 
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 ‘‘Bureau Advisory Opin-
ion Act of 2016’’. 
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SEC. 2. ADVISORY OPINIONS. 
Section 1022(b) of the Consumer Financial Protec-
tion Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5512(b)) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following: 
‘‘(5) ADVISORY OPINIONS.— 
‘‘(A) ESTABLISHING PROCEDURES.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 
establish a procedure and, as necessary, 
promulgate rules to provide written opin-
ions in response to inquiries concerning the 
conformance of specific conduct with Fed-
eral consumer financial law. In establishing 
the procedure the Director shall consult 
with the prudential regulators and such 
other Federal departments and agencies as 
the Director determines appropriate, and 
obtain the views of all interested persons 
through a public notice and comment pe-
riod. 
‘‘(ii) SCOPE OF REQUEST.—A request 
for an opinion under this paragraph must 
relate to specific proposed or prospective 
conduct by a covered person contemplating 
the proposed or prospective conduct. 
‘‘(iii) SUBMISSION.—A request for an 
opinion under this paragraph may be sub-
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mitted to the Director either by or on be-
half of a covered person. 
‘‘(iv) 
RIGHT
TO
WITHDRAW
IN-
QUIRY.—Any inquiry under this paragraph 
may be withdrawn at any time prior to the 
Director issuing an opinion in response to 
such inquiry, and any opinion based on an 
inquiry that has been withdrawn shall have 
no force or effect. 
‘‘(B) ISSUANCE OF OPINIONS.— 
‘‘(i) 
IN
GENERAL.—The 
Director 
shall, within 90 days of receiving the re-
quest for an opinion under this paragraph, 
either— 
‘‘(I) issue an opinion stating 
whether the described conduct would 
violate Federal consumer financial 
law; 
‘‘(II) if permissible under clause 
(iii), deny the request; or 
‘‘(III) explain why it is not fea-
sible to issue an opinion. 
‘‘(ii) 
EXTENSION.—Notwithstanding 
clause (i), if the Director determines that 
the Bureau requires additional time to 
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issue an opinion, the Director may make a 
single extension of the deadline of 90 days 
or less. 
‘‘(iii) DENIAL
OF
REQUESTS.—The 
Director shall not issue an opinion, and 
shall so inform the requestor, if the re-
quest for an opinion— 
‘‘(I) asks a general question of 
interpretation; 
‘‘(II) asks about a hypothetical 
situation; 
‘‘(III) asks about the conduct of 
someone other than the covered per-
son on whose behalf the request is 
made; 
‘‘(IV) asks about past conduct 
that the covered person on whose be-
half the request is made does not plan 
to continue in the future; or 
‘‘(V) fails to provide necessary 
supporting information requested by 
the Bureau within a reasonable time 
established by the Bureau. 
‘‘(iv) 
AMENDMENT
AND
REVOCA-
TION.—An advisory opinion issued under 
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this paragraph may be amended or revoked 
at any time. 
‘‘(v) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—An opin-
ion rendered pursuant to this paragraph 
shall be placed in the Bureau’s public 
record 90 days after the requesting party 
has received the advice, subject to any lim-
itations on public disclosure arising from 
statutory restrictions, Bureau regulations, 
or the public interest. The Bureau shall re-
dact any personal, confidential, or identi-
fying information about the covered person 
or any other persons mentioned in the ad-
visory opinion, unless the covered person 
consents to such disclosure. 
‘‘(vi) REPORT
TO
CONGRESS.—The 
Bureau shall, concurrent with the semi-an-
nual 
report 
required 
under 
section 
1016(b), submit information regarding the 
number of requests for an advisory opinion 
received, the subject of each request, the 
number of requests denied pursuant to 
clause (iii), and the time needed to respond 
to each request. 
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‘‘(C) RELIANCE ON OPINION.—Any person 
may rely on an opinion issued by the Director 
pursuant to this paragraph that has not been 
amended or withdrawn. No liability under Fed-
eral consumer financial law shall attach to con-
duct consistent with an advisory opinion that 
had not been amended or withdrawn at the time 
the conduct was undertaken. 
‘‘(D) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Any document 
or other material that is received by the Bureau 
or any other Federal department or agency in 
connection with an inquiry under this para-
graph shall be exempt from disclosure under 
section 552 of title 5, United States Code (com-
monly referred to as the ‘Freedom of Informa-
tion Act’) and may not, except with the consent 
of the covered person making such inquiry, be 
made publicly available, regardless of whether 
the Director responds to such inquiry or the 
covered person withdraws such inquiry before 
receiving an opinion. 
‘‘(E) 
ASSISTANCE
FOR
SMALL
BUSI-
NESSES.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Bureau shall 
assist, to the maximum extent practicable, 
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small businesses in preparing inquiries 
under this paragraph. 
‘‘(ii) SMALL
BUSINESS
DEFINED.— 
For purposes of this subparagraph, the 
term ‘small business’ has the meaning 
given the term ‘small business concern’ 
under section 3 of the Small Business Act 
(15 U.S.C. 632). 
‘‘(F) INQUIRY FEE.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 
develop a system to charge a fee for each 
inquiry made under this paragraph in an 
amount sufficient, in the aggregate, to pay 
for the cost of carrying out this paragraph. 
‘‘(ii) NOTICE
AND
COMMENT.—Not 
later than 45 days after the date of the en-
actment of this paragraph, the Director 
shall publish a description of the fee sys-
tem described in clause (i) in the Federal 
Register and shall solicit comments from 
the public for a period of 60 days after 
publication. 
‘‘(iii) FINALIZATION.—The Director 
shall publish a final description of the fee 
system and implement such fee system not 
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later than 30 days after the end of the 
public comment period described in clause 
(ii).’’. 
Æ 
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