Title: Federal Reserve Accountability Act of 2022
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector

Summary:
Federal Reserve Accountability Act of 2022
This bill reduces the number of Federal Reserve districts from 12 to 5, requires Senate confirmation for Federal Reserve bank presidents, and makes other changes to the operation of the Federal Reserve Board and Federal Reserve banks.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5341 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5341

 To amend the Federal Reserve Act to provide greater accountability to 
          the Federal Reserve System, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 21, 2022

 Mr. Toomey (for himself, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Hagerty, Mr. Lee, 
 Ms. Lummis, and Mr. Tillis) introduced the following bill; which was 
read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Federal Reserve Act to provide greater accountability to 
          the Federal Reserve System, 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 ``Federal Reserve Accountability Act 
of 2022''.

SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF GENERAL COUNSEL.

    Subsection (l) of section 11 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 
248) is amended by inserting ``The President shall appoint a general 
counsel for the Board, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate. Sections 3345 through 3349b of title 5, United States Code, 
shall not apply to the general counsel.'' after the period at the end 
of the first sentence.

SEC. 3. APPOINTMENT OF FEDERAL RESERVE BANK PRESIDENTS.

    (a) In General.--The fifth paragraph of the fourth unenumerated 
paragraph of section 4 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 341) is 
amended--
            (1) in the first sentence, by striking ``president, vice 
        presidents,'' and inserting ``vice presidents'';
            (2) in the second sentence, by striking ``Class B and Class 
        C directors of the bank, with the approval of the Board of 
        Governors of the Federal Reserve System, for a term of 5 
        years'' and inserting ``President of the United States (by and 
        with the advice and consent of the Senate) for a term of 5 
        years'';
            (3) by striking the third sentence and inserting ``The 
        first vice president of the bank shall be appointed by the 
        Class B and Class C board of directors of the bank for a term 
        of 5 years, and shall, in the absence or disability of the 
        president or during a vacancy in the office of the president, 
        serve as chief executive officer of the bank, until a nominee 
        for president is confirmed by the Senate or the President of 
        the United States appoints an acting president under sections 
        3345 through 3349b of title 5, United States Code.'';
            (4) in the fourth sentence, by striking ``the president 
        or'';
            (5) by inserting ``A president may continue to serve after 
        the expiration of the term of office to which the president was 
        appointed until the earlier of the date on which a successor 
        has been appointed and qualified, the date on which the next 
        session of Congress subsequent to the expiration of such term 
        expires, or the date on which the President of the United 
        States removes the president. No appointed president shall 
        serve more than a total of 10 years, not including any such 
        continuation in service.'' after the period at the end of the 
        fourth sentence; and
            (6) by inserting ``The president shall have their primary 
        residence and principal place of business located in that 
        Federal Reserve district for not fewer than 4 years before the 
        date on which the President nominates the individual to be 
        president of the Federal Reserve bank for that Federal Reserve 
        district.'' after the period at the end of the fifth sentence, 
        as added by paragraph (5) of this subsection.
    (b) Suspension or Removal of Officers.--Section 11(f) of the 
Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248(f)) is amended by inserting 
``(except the president)'' after ``reserve bank''.
    (c) Applicability.--Sections 3345 through 3349b of title 5, United 
States Code, shall apply to presidents of Federal Reserve banks in the 
same manner as officers of Executive agencies.

SEC. 4. FEDERAL RESERVE DISTRICTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 2 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 
222) is amended by striking the first undesignated paragraph and 
inserting the following:
    ``The continental United States shall be divided into 5 Federal 
Reserve districts. The First Federal Reserve District shall be composed 
of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands, with 
the city of New York, New York, as the location of the Federal Reserve 
bank. The Second Federal Reserve District shall be composed of Ohio, 
West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, 
Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the District of Columbia, with the 
city of Cleveland, Ohio, as the location of the Federal Reserve bank. 
The Third Federal Reserve District shall be composed of Missouri, 
Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, 
South Dakota, and Montana, with the city of Kansas City, Missouri, as 
the location of the Federal Reserve bank. The Fourth Federal Reserve 
District shall be composed of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, 
Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
Florida, with the city of Dallas, Texas, as the location of the Federal 
Reserve bank. The Fifth Federal Reserve District shall be composed of 
California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, 
Arizona, New Mexico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana 
Islands, with the city of San Francisco, California, as the location of 
the Federal Reserve bank. Every national bank in any State shall, upon 
commencing business, become a member bank of the Federal Reserve System 
by subscribing and paying for stock in the Federal Reserve bank of its 
district in accordance with the provisions of this Act and shall 
thereupon be an insured bank under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, 
and failure to do so shall subject such bank to the penalty provided by 
the sixth paragraph of this section.''.
    (b) Federal Open Market Committee.--Section 12A of the Federal 
Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 263) is amended by striking subsection (a) and 
inserting the following:
    ``(a) There is hereby created a Federal Open Market Committee 
(hereinafter referred to as the `Committee'), which shall consist of 
the members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and 
the chief executive officers of the 5 Federal Reserve banks.''.
    (c) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Section 11 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248) 
        is amended by striking subsection (e).
            (2) Section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 413) 
        is amended, in the third sentence, by striking ``twelve'' and 
        inserting ``5''.

SEC. 5. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM.

    Section 10 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 241) is amended--
            (1) in the second sentence, by striking ``one of whom shall 
        be selected from'' and inserting ``2 of whom may be residents 
        of''; and
            (2) by inserting ``In this paragraph, the term `resident of 
        any one Federal Reserve district' means an individual whose 
        primary residence and principal place of business has been 
        located in a Federal Reserve district for not fewer than 4 
        years before the date on which the President nominates the 
        individual as a member of the Board.'' after the period at the 
        end of the fourth sentence.

SEC. 6. LOBBYING WITH MONEYS.

    The Federal Reserve Act is amended by inserting after section 15 
(12 U.S.C. 391 et seq.) the following:

``SEC. 15A. LOBBYING WITH MONEYS.

    ``No part of the income, interest, fees, money, or other funds of 
the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or any Federal 
Reserve bank shall, in the absence of express authorization by 
Congress, be used directly or indirectly to pay for any personal 
service, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written 
matter, or other device, intended or designed to influence in any 
manner a Member of Congress, a jurisdiction, or an official of any 
government, to favor, adopt, or oppose, by vote or otherwise, any 
legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation, whether 
before or after the introduction of any bill, measure, or resolution 
proposing such legislation, law, ratification, policy, or 
appropriation; but this shall not prevent officers or employees of the 
Federal Reserve System from communicating to any such Member or 
official, at his request, or to Congress or such official, through the 
proper official channels, requests for any legislation, law, 
ratification, policy, or appropriations which they deem necessary for 
the efficient conduct of the public business, or from making any 
communication whose prohibition by this section might, in the opinion 
of the Attorney General, violate the Constitution or interfere with the 
conduct of foreign policy, counter-intelligence, intelligence, or 
national security activities. Violations of this section shall 
constitute violations of section 1352(a) of title 31, United States 
Code.''.
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