[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2114 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2114

To amend the Federal Reserve Act to provide for the appointment of the 
 presidents of the Federal reserve banks by the Board of Governors of 
          the Federal Reserve System, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 8, 1997

  Mr. Leach introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Banking and Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Reserve Act to provide for the appointment of the 
 presidents of the Federal reserve banks by the Board of Governors of 
          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 Governance Act''.

SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT BY BOARD OF GOVERNORS.

    (a) In General.--Section 4 of the Federal Reserve Act is amended by 
inserting after the 5th undesignated paragraph (12 U.S.C. 341; relating 
to authority to commence business) the following new paragraph:
    ``The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall 
appoint for each Federal reserve bank, after consultation with the 
board of directors of the bank, a president and first vice president 
for the bank. The president and first vice president shall be appointed 
for terms of 5 years. The president shall be the chief executive 
officer of the bank. The first vice president shall, in the absence or 
disability of the president or during a vacancy in the office of 
president, serve as chief executive officer of the bank. Whenever a 
vacancy shall occur in the office of the president or the first vice 
president, it shall be filled in the manner provided for the original 
appointment and the person so appointed shall hold office until the 
expiration of the term to which such person's predecessor was 
appointed.''.
    (b) Transition.--The first appointment of the president or first 
vice president for each Federal reserve bank made in accordance with 
the authority under the amendment made by subsection (a) shall take 
place upon the earlier of--
            (1) the expiration of the term of the president or first 
        vice president of the bank, as the case may be, who is serving 
        in such office on the date of the enactment of this Act; or
            (2) the occurrence of the first vacancy in the office of 
        president or first vice president of the bank, as the case may 
        be, after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF BOARDS OF DIRECTORS OF FEDERAL RESERVE BANKS.

    The subdivision designated ``Fifth.'' of the 4th undesignated 
paragraph of section 4 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 341) is 
amended--
            (1) in the 1st sentence, by striking ``a president, vice 
        presidents, and''; and
            (2) by striking the 2d, 3d, and 4th sentences and inserting 
        the following new sentence: ``All executive officers and all 
        employees of the bank shall be directly responsible to the 
        president of the bank.''.
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