Title: Community Bank Access to Capital Act of 2017
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector

Summary:
Community Bank Access to Capital Act of 2017
This bill directs the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to exempt banks with assets not greater than $50 billion from certain international financial standards.
The bill amends the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to create an exemption from internal control report attestation requirements for depository institutions with assets not greater than $1 billion.
The Securities and Exchange Commission must revise Regulation D (which exempts certain offerings from securities registration requirements) to raise the limit on the number of purchasers of securities.
The FRB is directed to increase, from $1 billion to $3 billion, the consolidated asset threshold (i.e., permissible debt level) for a bank holding company or savings and loan holding company that: (1) is not engaged in significant nonbanking activities; (2) does not conduct significant off-balance-sheet activities; and (3) does not have a material amount of debt or equity securities, other than trust-preferred securities, outstanding. If warranted for supervisory purposes, the FRB may exclude a company from this threshold increase.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4562 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4562

To provide relief to community banks, to promote access to capital for 
                community banks, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 6, 2017

 Mr. Hill (for himself and Mr. David Scott of Georgia) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide relief to community banks, to promote access to capital for 
                community banks, 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 ``Community Bank Access to Capital Act 
of 2017''.

SEC. 2. BASEL III EXEMPTION FOR COMMUNITY BANKS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``community bank'' means--
                    (A) an insured depository institution; and
                    (B) a depository institution holding company with 
                consolidated assets of not greater than 
                $50,000,000,000;
            (2) the term ``insured depository institution'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 3(c) of the Federal Deposit 
        Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(c)); and
            (3) the term ``depository institution holding company'' 
        means a bank holding company or savings and loan holding 
        company (as those terms are defined under section 3(w) of the 
        Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(w))).
    (b) Promulgation of Regulations.--Not later than 90 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller of the Currency, the 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation shall each promulgate a regulation 
exempting community banks from any regulation issued to implement 
``Basel III: A global regulatory framework for more resilient banks and 
banking systems'', as issued by the Basel Committee on Banking 
Supervision on December 16, 2010, and revised on June 1, 2011.
    (c) Capital Requirements Adjustment.--The Comptroller of the 
Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the 
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation shall make the revisions to 
capital requirements as the Comptroller, the Board, and the 
Corporation, respectively, determine are necessary or appropriate in 
light of the regulations required under subsection (b).

SEC. 3. INTERNAL CONTROL ATTESTATION REQUIREMENT EXEMPTIONS.

    Section 404(c) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 
7262(c)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``that is neither'' and inserting the 
        following: ``that--
            ``(1) is neither'';
            (2) by striking the period at the end and inserting ``; 
        or''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) is an insured depository institution or a depository 
        institution holding company (as those terms are defined in 
        section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 
        1813)), with consolidated assets of not greater than 
        $1,000,000,000.''.

SEC. 4. REGULATION D CHANGES.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Securities and Exchange Commission shall revise section 
230.506(b)(2)(i) of title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, to change 
the limitation on the number of purchasers contained in the section 
from 35 to 70.

SEC. 5. CHANGES REQUIRED TO SMALL BANK HOLDING COMPANY POLICY STATEMENT 
              ON ASSESSMENT OF FINANCIAL AND MANAGERIAL FACTORS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``bank holding company'' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 2 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 
        (12 U.S.C. 1841);
            (2) the term ``Board'' means the Board of Governors of the 
        Federal Reserve System; and
            (3) the term ``savings and loan holding company'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 10(a) of the Home Owners' 
        Loan Act (12 U.S.C. 1467a(a)).
    (b) Revision.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Board shall revise appendix C of part 225 of title 12, 
Code of Federal Regulations (commonly known as the ``Small Bank Holding 
Company and Savings and Loan Holding Company Policy Statement''), to 
raise the consolidated asset threshold under that appendix from 
$1,000,000,000 (as adjusted by Public Law 113-250 (12 U.S.C. 5371 
note)) to $3,000,000,000 for a bank holding company or savings and loan 
holding company that--
            (1) is not engaged in significant nonbanking activities 
        either directly or through a nonbank subsidiary;
            (2) does not conduct significant off-balance sheet 
        activities (including securitization and asset management or 
        administration) either directly or through a nonbank 
        subsidiary; and
            (3) does not have a material amount of debt or equity 
        securities outstanding (other than trust preferred securities) 
        that are registered with the Securities and Exchange 
        Commission.
    (c) Exclusions.--The Board may exclude any bank holding company or 
savings and loan holding company, regardless of asset size, from the 
revision under subsection (b) if the Board determines that such action 
is warranted for supervisory purposes.
    (d) Conforming Amendment.--Section 171(b)(5) of the Financial 
Stability Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5371(b)(5)) is amended by striking 
subparagraph (C) and inserting the following:
                    ``(C) any bank holding company or savings and loan 
                holding company that is subject to the application of 
                appendix C of part 225 of title 12, Code of Federal 
                Regulations (commonly known as the `Small Bank Holding 
                Company and Savings and Loan Holding Company Policy 
                Statement').''.
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