I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1748
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 
APRIL 10, 2003
Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Ms. JACKSON-LEE 
of Texas, Ms. NORTON, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mrs. DAVIS of California, 
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. OWENS, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of 
Texas, Ms. LEE, and Mr. GUTIERREZ) introduced the following 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 2003’’.
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’—