Federal Reserve Blackout Improvement Act

Bill: 115-hr-4756
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Tenney, Claudia [R-NY-22]
Introduced: 2018-01-10
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures

Advisory bodies

Federal Reserve System

Federal officials

Government ethics and transparency, public corruption

Government information and archives
Latest action: action_date: 2018-01-10
text: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

Summaries:
action_date: 2018-01-10
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Federal Reserve Blackout Improvement Act </b></p> <p>This bill amends the Federal Reserve Act to restrict the types of public communications that Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members and staff may make regarding financial developments or monetary policy during a &quot;blackout period&quot; (i.e., a period extending from approximately one week before an FOMC meeting to approximately one day afterwards). </p>

tv_txt: I 115th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 4756 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 10, 2018 Ms. Tenney introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To amend the Federal Reserve Act to establish a blackout period for public communications by the Federal Open Market Committee, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Federal Reserve Blackout Improvement Act . 2. Federal Open Market Committee blackout period Section 12A of the Federal Reserve Act ( 12 U.S.C. 263 ) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (d) Blackout period (1) In general During a blackout period, the only public communications that may be made by members and staff of the Committee with respect to macroeconomic or financial developments or about current or prospective monetary policy issues are the following: (A) The dissemination of published data, surveys, and reports that have been cleared for publication by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. (B) Answers to technical questions specific to a data release. (C) Communications with respect to the prudential or supervisory functions of the Board of Governors. (2) Blackout period defined For purposes of this subsection, and with respect to a meeting of the Committee described under subsection (a), the term blackout period means the time period that— (A) begins immediately after midnight on the day that is one week prior to the date on which such meeting takes place; and (B) ends at midnight on the day after the date on which such meeting takes place. (3) Exemption for chairman of the board of governors Nothing in this section shall prohibit the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from participating in or issuing public communications. .