I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2549 
To ensure uniform and accurate credit rating of municipal bonds and provide 
for a review of the municipal bond insurance industry. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 21, 2009 
Mr. CAPUANO (for himself, Mr. MAFFEI, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. FRANK of Mas-
sachusetts, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. BACA, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. AN-
DREWS, and Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To ensure uniform and accurate credit rating of municipal 
bonds and provide for a review of the municipal bond 
insurance industry. 
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 ‘‘Municipal Bond Fair-
ness Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PRESERVATION OF AUTHORITY TO PREVENT DIS-
CRIMINATION. 
Section 15E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(15 U.S.C. 78o–7) is amended— 
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(1) by redesignating subsection (p) as sub-
section (q); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (o) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(p) RATINGS CLARITY AND CONSISTENCY.— 
‘‘(1) COMMISSION
OBLIGATION.—Subject to 
paragraphs (2) and (3), the Commission shall re-
quire each nationally recognized statistical rating or-
ganization that is registered under this section to es-
tablish, maintain, and enforce written policies and 
procedures reasonably designed— 
‘‘(A) to establish and maintain credit rat-
ings with respect to securities and money mar-
ket instruments designed to assess the risk that 
investors in securities and money market in-
struments may not receive payment in accord-
ance with the terms of issuance of such securi-
ties and instruments; 
‘‘(B) to define clearly any rating symbol 
used by that organization; and 
‘‘(C) to apply such rating symbol in a con-
sistent manner for all types of securities and 
money market instruments. 
‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL CREDIT FACTORS.—Nothing 
in paragraph (1)(A), (B), or (C)— 
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‘‘(3) COMPLEMENTARY
RATINGS.—The Com-
mission shall not impose any requirement under 
paragraph (1) that prevents nationally recognized 
statistical rating organizations from establishing rat-
ings that are complementary to the ratings described 
in paragraph (1)(A) and that are created to measure 
a discrete aspect of the security’s or instrument’s 
risk. 
‘‘(4) REVIEW.— 
‘‘(A) 
PERFORMANCE
MEASURES.—The 
Commission shall, by rule, establish perform-
ance measures that the Commission shall con-
sider when deciding whether to initiate a review 
concerning whether a nationally recognized sta-
tistical rating organization has failed to adhere 
to such organization’s stated procedures and 
methodologies for issuing ratings on securities 
or money market instruments. 
‘‘(B) CONSIDERATION
OF
EVIDENCE.— 
Performance measures the Commission may 
consider in initiating a review of an organiza-
tion’s ratings in each of the categories described 
in clauses (i) through (v) of section 3(a)(62)(B) 
during an appropriate interval (as determined 
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by the Commission) include the transition and 
default rates of its in discrete asset classes.’’. 
SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION. 
The Securities and Exchange Commission shall pre-
scribe rules to implement the amendments made by sec-
tion 101 within 270 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act. 
Æ 
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