Title: Ability to Repay Verification Enabling Act
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
Ability to Repay Verification Enabling Act
This bill prohibits the Department of Labor from enforcing any requirement that a third-party consumer-reporting agency that serves only as a secure conduit for data from a state unemployment compensation agency must obtain and maintain informed consent from an individual before obtaining confidential unemployment compensation information about the individual.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 759 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 759

To prohibit the Secretary of Labor from enforcing any requirement that 
consumer reporting agencies that serve only as a secure conduit to data 
 from State unemployment compensation agencies obtain and maintain an 
   individual's informed consent agreement when verifying income and 
         employment with such agencies, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 31, 2017

  Mr. Ellison (for himself and Mr. Renacci) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit the Secretary of Labor from enforcing any requirement that 
consumer reporting agencies that serve only as a secure conduit to data 
 from State unemployment compensation agencies obtain and maintain an 
   individual's informed consent agreement when verifying income and 
         employment with such agencies, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Ability to Repay Verification 
Enabling Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Economic growth requires access to affordable credit 
        which depends on consumers' ability to understand the terms of 
        any loans they make and the ability of lenders to have an 
        understanding of the consumers' ability and willingness to 
        repay loans.
            (2) New laws enacted by Congress require lenders to 
        ascertain borrowers' willingness and ability to repay prior to 
        making a loan.
            (3) Lenders and consumers receive benefits such as quicker 
        approval, lower interest rates, protection of privacy, and 
        stronger anti-fraud protections from automatic underwriting 
        utilizing existing databases.
            (4) Eleven States (Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, 
        Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and 
        Virginia) passed enabling legislation or rules enabling 
        consumers who request that third parties using consumer report 
        information for purposes of eligibility determination have 
        efficient access to this information from the State's 
        unemployment insurance database.
            (5) Fair Credit Reporting Act requirements already require 
        third parties using consumer report information for purposes of 
        eligibility determination to obtain and maintain consent 
        agreements.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON REQUIREMENT FOR ONWARD TRANSFER OF CONSENT 
              AGREEMENTS.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Labor 
may not--
            (1) take any action to implement or enforce the requirement 
        described in the Unemployment Insurance Program Letter No. 19-
        12, dated May 23, 2012, that a third-party consumer reporting 
        agency that serves only as a secure conduit to data from State 
        unemployment compensation agencies and that is not an agent of 
        an individual obtain and maintain an informed consent agreement 
        from such individual if the third-party consumer reporting 
        agency seeks to obtain confidential unemployment compensation 
        information with respect to such individual from a State; or
            (2) issue, implement, administer, or enforce any rule or 
        other guidance that is the same as, or similar in effect to, 
        the requirement described in paragraph (1).
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