[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 229 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 229

   To amend the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, the Equal Credit 
Opportunity Act, and the Fair Housing Act to improve the administration 
of such Acts, to prohibit redlining in connection with the provision of 
                    credit, 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, and in addition to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, 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 amend the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, the Equal Credit 
Opportunity Act, and the Fair Housing Act to improve the administration 
of such Acts, to prohibit redlining in connection with the provision of 
                    credit, 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 ``Credit Opportunity Amendments Act of 
1997''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACT OF 1977.

    (a) Record of Meeting Community Needs Taken Into Account in 
Examination of Management.--Section 804(a) of the Community 
Reinvestment Act of 1977 (12 U.S.C. 2903(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``; and'' and inserting 
        ``to assure the accuracy of the disclosures required by section 
        807.'';
            (2) by striking ``shall--'' and all that follows through 
        ``assess'' and inserting ``shall assess''; and
            (3) by striking paragraph (2).
    (b) Disclosure Requirement.--Section 807 of the Community 
Reinvestment Act of 1977 (12 U.S.C. 2906) is amended to read as 
follows:

``SEC. 807. DISCLOSURE OF COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACTIVITIES.

    ``Each regulated financial institution shall prepare and make 
available to the public at each office of such institution where 
deposits are accepted a written description of the lending programs and 
other activities of the institution which are designed to enhance the 
availability of credit in the community, including low- and moderate-
income neighborhoods, served by the institution.''.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO EQUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY ACT.

    (a) Redlining Prohibited.--Section 701(a) of the Consumer Credit 
Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1691(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (3), the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(4) on the basis of the racial or ethnic characteristics 
        of the neighborhood surrounding the applicant's dwelling or 
        business.''.
    (b) Authority of Attorney General Limited to Referral Cases.--
Section 706(h) of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 
1691e(h)) is amended by striking ``or whenever he has reason to believe 
one or more creditors are engaged in a pattern or practice in violation 
of this title,''.
    (c) Clarification of Causes of Action.--Section 706 of the Consumer 
Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1691e) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subsection:
    ``(l) Disparate Impact Cases.--No provision of this title shall be 
construed as allowing statistical data which tends to show that the 
credit decisions of a creditor have had a disparate impact on various 
classes of credit applicants to be used as evidence, in any action 
under this section, that the creditor engaged in a pattern or practice 
in violation of this title without additional evidence that--
            ``(1) the pattern or practice actually discriminated 
        against any person or class on a prohibited basis; and
            ``(2) the creditor engaged in such pattern or practice with 
        the purpose or intent to engage in an activity in violation of 
        this title.''.

SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO FAIR HOUSING ACT.

    (a) Redlining Prohibited.--Section 805(a) of the Fair Housing Act 
(42 U.S.C. 3605(a)) is amended by inserting ``or on the basis of the 
racial or ethnic characteristics of the neighborhood surrounding the 
person's dwelling'' before the period at the end.
    (b) Authority of Attorney General Limited to Referral Cases.--
Section 814 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3614) is amended by 
striking subsection (a).
    (c) Clarification of Causes of Action.--Section 813 of the Fair 
Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3613) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection:
    ``(f) Disparate Impact Cases.--No provision of this title shall be 
construed as allowing statistical data which tends to show that the 
business decisions of any person have had a disparate impact on various 
classes of individuals to be used as evidence, in any action or 
proceeding under this title, that such person engaged in a pattern or 
practice in violation of this title without additional evidence that--
            ``(1) the pattern or practice actually discriminated 
        against any individual or class on a prohibited basis; and
            ``(2) such person engaged in such pattern or practice with 
        the purpose or intent to engage in an activity in violation of 
        this title.''.
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