Title: To prohibit consumer reporting agencies from including adverse information in certain consumer reports, and from making adverse determinations relating to security clearances, with respect to certain individuals affected by the Government shutdown, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector

Summary:
This bill prohibits consumer reporting agencies from including certain adverse credit information in a consumer report. Specifically, adverse credit information relating to certain employees affected by a federal government shutdown may not be included in a consumer report. The bill also prohibits the head of an agency from making adverse security clearance or access determinations for an individual solely due to their failure to make debt payments as a result of a federal government shutdown.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 953 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 953

    To prohibit consumer reporting agencies from including adverse 
   information in certain consumer reports, and from making adverse 
determinations relating to security clearances, with respect to certain 
    individuals affected by the Government shutdown, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 2019

  Mr. Evans (for himself, Mr. Cisneros, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Norton, Mr. 
 Johnson of Georgia, Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Ms. Moore, 
 and Ms. Schakowsky) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
   to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the 
   Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To prohibit consumer reporting agencies from including adverse 
   information in certain consumer reports, and from making adverse 
determinations relating to security clearances, with respect to certain 
    individuals affected by the Government shutdown, 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. PROHIBITION ON INCLUDING ADVERSE INFORMATION IN CERTAIN 
              CONSUMER REPORTS.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), if an event occurred 
during a shutdown that resulted in the furnishing of an item of adverse 
information to a consumer reporting agency that such agency would 
otherwise include in a consumer report of a covered individual, such 
agency may not include such information in a consumer report of such 
covered individual during the period beginning on the first day of a 
shutdown and ending on the date that is 9 months after the day on which 
the shutdown ends.
    (b) Covered Individuals.--For a covered individual to be eligible 
under subsection (a), such covered individual shall submit a 
certification to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection that the 
event that resulted in the furnishing of an item of adverse information 
occurred because of the shutdown.

SEC. 2. GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN AND SECURITY CLEARANCE DETERMINATIONS.

    The head of an agency may not make an adverse determination for 
purposes of granting or renewing a security clearance or an access 
determination with respect to any covered person (as that term is 
defined in section 3002(a)(2) of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism 
Prevention Act of 2004 (50 U.S.C. 3343(a)(2)) based solely on a failure 
of that covered person to make any payment on a debt due during the 
period of a shutdown during which that covered person was furloughed or 
excepted from such furlough as a result of such shutdown.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Consumer reporting agency.--The term ``consumer 
        reporting agency'' has the meaning given in section 603 of the 
        Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a).
            (2) Covered individual.--The term ``covered individual'' 
        means--
                    (A) an employee of the Federal Government 
                furloughed or excepted from such furlough during any 
                shutdown;
                    (B) a Federal contractor who, during any shutdown, 
                is not receiving pay by reason of such shutdown; and
                    (C) an owner or employee of a small business 
                concern (as defined under section 3 of the Small 
                Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)) that is located within a 
                reasonable distance of a building owned or rented by 
                the Federal Government, as determined by the Bureau of 
                Consumer Financial Protection.
            (3) Shutdown.--The term ``shutdown'' means any lapse in 
        appropriations that begins on or after December 22, 2018.
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