[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 221 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 221

   To amend the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to reduce onerous 
   recordkeeping and reporting requirements for regulated financial 
                 institutions, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 7, 1997

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to reduce onerous 
   recordkeeping and reporting requirements for regulated financial 
                 institutions, 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 Reinvestment Improvement 
Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. MODIFIED EVALUATIONS.

    The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (12 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:

``SEC. 809. MODIFIED EVALUATIONS.

    ``(a) Scope.--In lieu of being evaluated under section 804 and 
receiving a written evaluation under section 807, an institution's 
record of meeting the credit needs of its entire community with respect 
to any calendar year shall be evaluated pursuant to this section if the 
institution--
            ``(1) has not been found to be in violation of section 
        701(a) of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, or any other 
        provision of such Act, during the five-year period preceding 
        such calendar year;
            ``(2) has not received a rating of `needs to improve' or 
        `substantial noncompliance' from the supervisory agency in the 
        most recent evaluation of the institution under section 807;
            ``(3) has not been disqualified from evaluation under this 
        section by the supervisory agency pursuant to a provision of 
        this section; and
            ``(4) has, as of the December 31 preceding the beginning of 
        such calendar year, total assets of less than $500,000,000.
The dollar amount in this subsection shall be adjusted annually after 
December 31, 1996, by the annual percentage increase in the Consumer 
Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers published by 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    ``(b) Modified Evaluation.--An institution which is described in 
subsection (a) with respect to any calendar year shall, during such 
year--
            ``(1) maintain internal policies to help meet the credit 
        needs of its local community consistent with the safe and sound 
        operation of such institution;
            ``(2) declare in writing to the supervisory agency, at such 
        time as the agency shall prescribe by regulation, that the 
        institution--
                    ``(A) is an institution described in subsection 
                (a); and
                    ``(B) is in compliance with this subsection;
            ``(3) display any notices as required by the supervisory 
        agency concerning the institution's compliance with the 
        requirements of this Act; and
            ``(4) make available for public inspection the following 
        information regarding the record of such institution in meeting 
        the credit needs of its entire community--
                    ``(A) an identification of the community it serves;
                    ``(B) a list of the types of credit offered by the 
                institution;
                    ``(C) public comments received during such year or 
                any of the two years immediately preceding such year 
                regarding the institution's service of the entire 
                community's credit needs; and
                    ``(D) copies of any declaration submitted under 
                subparagraph (2).
    ``(c) Regulatory Evaluation.--
            ``(1) In general.--The supervisory agency shall conduct an 
        evaluation of an institution's compliance with this section in 
        connection with its examination of such institution, or every 
        two years, whichever is more frequent.
            ``(2) Notice.--Upon commencing a compliance evaluation 
        pursuant to the section, the supervisory agency shall provide 
        public notice stating that it is conducting such evaluation of 
        the institution.
            ``(3) Procedure.--In performing periodic evaluations of 
        institutions pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, the 
        supervisory agency--
                    ``(A) shall review the institution's existing 
                business records and shall not require the institution 
                to produce documentation other than existing business 
                records, and
                    ``(B) shall review any additional information 
                provided by the institution or other interested 
                parties.
            ``(4) Disqualification.--In addition to any administrative 
        enforcement action authorized under any other provision of law, 
        if the supervisory agency determines after an evaluation under 
        this subsection that the institution is not in compliance with 
        this section, then the supervisory agency may determine that 
        the institution shall be disqualified from evaluation under 
        this section for such period as the agency may determine to be 
        appropriate.
    ``(e) Penalties.--In addition to any criminal or civil penalty or 
any administrative enforcement action authorized under any other 
provision of law, if the supervisory agency finds that an institution 
has intentionally submitted false information to the supervisory agency 
or otherwise willfully violated the requirements of subsection (b), the 
institution shall be disqualified from evaluation under this section 
such period, not to exceed ten years, as the agency may determine to be 
appropriate.
    ``(f) Definitions.--
            ``(1) `Institution' means a regulated financial institution 
        meeting the requirements of subsection (a).
            ``(2) `Supervisory agency' means the appropriate Federal 
        financial supervisory agency of a regulated financial 
        institution.''.

SEC. 3. EVALUATION EXEMPTION.

    The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (12 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.) is 
amended by inserting after section 809 (as added by section 2 of this 
Act) the following new section:

``SEC. 810. EVALUATION EXEMPTION.

    ``A regulated financial institution shall not be subject to the 
evaluation requirements of this title or any regulations issued under 
this title if--
            ``(1) the main office and each branch of such institution 
        is located in an incorporated city or town, or an 
        unincorporated place recognized by the Census Bureau that has a 
        population of not more than twenty-five thousand persons; and
            ``(2) the aggregate assets of the institution and any 
        company which is a depository holding company with respect to 
        such institution (as defined in section 3(w) of the Federal 
        Deposit Insurance Act) are less than $100,000,000.
The dollar amount in this section shall be adjusted annually after 
December 31, 1996, by the annual percentage increase in the Consumer 
Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers published by 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.''.

SEC. 4. SAFE HARBOR.

    The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (12 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.) is 
amended by inserting after section 810 (as added by section 3 of this 
Act) the following new section:

``SEC. 811. SAFE HARBOR.

    ``Notwithstanding section 804(a)(2), an application for a deposit 
facility by a regulated financial institution shall not be denied on 
the basis of such institution's compliance with this Act if such 
institution in the previous twenty-four months--
            ``(1) has received a rating of `Outstanding' or 
        `Satisfactory' from the appropriate Federal financial 
        supervisory agency in an evaluation of the institution under 
        section 807 conducted, or
            ``(2) has been found to be in compliance with section 809 
        in a regulatory review conducted under section 809(c),
unless such institution's compliance has materially deteriorated since 
such evaluation.''.
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