[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 629 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 629

 To amend the Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions 
    Act of 1994 to reauthorize the Community Development Financial 
   Institutions Fund and to more efficiently and effectively promote 
     economic revitalization, community development, and community 
      development financial institutions, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 8, 1999

Mr. Vento (for himself and Mrs. Roukema) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions 
    Act of 1994 to reauthorize the Community Development Financial 
   Institutions Fund and to more efficiently and effectively promote 
     economic revitalization, community development, and community 
      development 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Community 
Development Financial Institutions Fund Amendments Act of 1999''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

    Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
    Sec. 2. Change of status of the Fund; miscellaneous technical 
                            corrections.
    Sec. 3. Amendments to programs administered by the Fund and the 
                            Bank Enterprise Act of 1991.
    Sec. 4. Extension of authorization.
    Sec. 5. Amendments to Small Business Capital Enhancement Program.
    Sec. 6. Additional safeguards.

 SEC. 2. CHANGE OF STATUS OF THE FUND; MISCELLANEOUS TECHNICAL 
              CORRECTIONS.

    (a) Purpose.--Section 102(b) of the Community Development Banking 
and Financial Institutions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4701(b)) is amended 
to read as follows:
    ``(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this subtitle is to create a 
Community Development Financial Institutions Fund to promote economic 
revitalization and community development through investment in and 
assistance to community development financial institutions, including 
enhancing the liquidity of community development financial 
institutions, and through incentives to insured depository institutions 
that increase lending and other assistance and investment in both 
economically distressed communities and community development financial 
institutions.''.
    (b) Definitions.--
            (1) Section 103 of the Community Development Banking and 
        Financial Institutions Act of 1994 is amended--
                    (A) by striking paragraph (1);
                    (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (17) as 
                paragraphs (1) through (16), respectively; and
                    (C) by inserting after paragraph (16), as so 
                redesignated, the following new paragraph:
            ``(17) Secretary.--Except in the case of section 104(d)(2), 
        the term `Secretary' means the Secretary of the Treasury.''.
            (2) The Community Development Banking and Financial 
        Institutions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4701 et seq.) is amended 
        (other than in section 118) by striking ``Administrator'' each 
        place such term appears and inserting ``Secretary''.
    (c) Establishment of Fund Within the Department of the Treasury.--
            (1) In general.--Section 104(a) of the Community 
        Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994 (12 
        U.S.C. 4703(a)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a) Establishment.--
            ``(1) In general.--There is established in the Department 
        of the Treasury a Community Development Financial Institutions 
        Fund that shall have the functions specified by this subtitle 
        and subtitle B of Title II. The offices of the Fund shall be in 
        Washington, D.C. The Fund shall not be affiliated with any 
        other agency or department of the Federal Government.
            ``(2) Wholly owned government corporation.--The Fund shall 
        be a wholly owned government corporation within the Department 
        of the Treasury and shall be treated in all respects as an 
        agency of the United States, except as otherwise provided in 
        this subtitle.''.
            (2) Authority of the secretary of the treasury.--Section 
        104(b) of the Community Development Banking and Financial 
        Institutions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4703(b)) is amended to read 
        as follows:
    ``(b) Management of Fund.--
            ``(1) Authority of secretary of the treasury.--All 
        functions of the Fund shall be performed by or under the 
        supervision of the Secretary.
            ``(2) Appointment of officers and employees.--The Secretary 
        may appoint such officers and employees of the Fund, 
including a Director, as the Secretary deems necessary or 
appropriate.''.
            (3) Inspector general.--
                    (A) In general.--Section 118 of the Community 
                Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 
                1994 is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 118. INSPECTOR GENERAL.

    ``The Inspector General of the Department of the Treasury shall be 
the Inspector General of the Fund.''.
                    (B) Technical and conforming amendment.--Section 11 
                of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App. 3) 
                is amended--
                            (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ``; the 
                        Administrator of the Community Development 
                        Financial Institutions Fund;''; and
                            (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking ``the 
                        Community Development Financial Institutions 
                        Fund,''.
            (4) Technical correction to rulemaking authority.--Section 
        119(a)(1) of the Community Development Banking and Financial 
        Institutions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4717(a)(1)) is amended to 
        read as follows:
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may prescribe such 
        regulations and procedures as may be necessary to carry out 
        this subtitle.''.

 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO PROGRAMS ADMINISTERED BY THE FUND AND THE BANK 
              ENTERPRISE ACT OF 1991.

    (a) Amendments to Community Development Financial Institutions 
Program.--
            (1) Form of assistance provided.--Section 108(a)(1)(B)(iii) 
        of the Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions 
        Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4707(a)(1)(B)(iii)) is amended by 
        inserting ``through cooperative agreements or'' before ``by 
        contracting''.
            (2) Training programs.--Section 109(d) of the Community 
        Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994 (12 
        U.S.C. 4708(d)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(d) Form of Training.--The Fund may offer the training program 
described in this section--
            ``(1) directly; or
            ``(2) through grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements 
        with other organizations that possess special expertise in 
        community development, without regard to whether the 
        organizations receive or are eligible to receive assistance 
        under this subtitle.''.
    (b) Amendments to the Bank Enterprise Act Awards Program.--
            (1) Awards for assistance to community development 
        financial institutions.--Paragraph (2) of section 233(a) of the 
        Bank Enterprise Act (12 U.S.C. 1834a(a)) is amended--
                    (A) in that portion of such paragraph which 
                precedes subparagraph (A), by striking ``for for'' and 
                inserting ``for'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``for low- and 
                moderate-income persons'' and inserting ``to community 
                development financial institutions, low- and moderate-
                income persons''; and
                    (C) in subparagraph (B)--
                            (i) by inserting ``of the increase'' after 
                        ``the amount''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``financial'' each place 
                        such term appears.
            (2) Increase in award amounts for certain activities.--
        Section 114(b)(2) of the Community Development Banking and 
        Financial Institutions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4713(b)(2)) is 
        amended by amending the substitute text used to apply section 
        233(a)(3) of the Bank Enterprise Act of 1991--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ``or (2)(B)'' 
                after ``paragraph (2)(A)'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (A)(i), by inserting ``each'' 
                before ``such subparagraph''; and
                    (C) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by inserting ``each'' 
                before ``such subparagraph''.
            (3) Awarding credit for additional qualified activities.--
        Paragraph (4) of section 233(a) of the Bank Enterprise Act (12 
        U.S.C. 1834a(a)(4)) is amended--
                    (A) in the portion of such paragraph which precedes 
                subparagraph (A), by inserting ``and (2)(B)'' after 
                ``paragraph (2)(A)''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following new 
                subparagraph:
                    ``(P) Other forms of assistance that the Board 
                determines to be appropriate.
            (4) Evaluation of technical assistance provided.--Section 
        233(a)(7) of the Bank Enterprise Act (12 U.S.C. 1834a(a)(7)) is 
        amended--
                    (A) by inserting ``and other'' after ``technical''; 
                and
                    (B) by striking ``and (O)'' and inserting instead 
                ``(O), and (P)''.
            (5) Establishing alternative criteria in defining certain 
        distressed communities.--Section 233(b)(4)(C) of the Bank 
        Enterprise Act (12 U.S.C. 1834a(b)(4)(C)) is amended by 
        inserting ``or alternative'' before ``eligibility 
        requirements''.

SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION.

    Paragraph (1) of section 121(a) of the Community Development 
Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4718(a)) is 
amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) In general.--To carry out this subtitle and subtitle 
        B of title II, there are authorized to be appropriated to the 
        Fund, to remain available until expended--
                    ``(A) $95,000,000 for fiscal year 2000;
                    ``(B) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2001;
                    ``(C) $105,000,000 for fiscal year 2002; and
                    ``(D) $110,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.''.

SEC. 5. AMENDMENTS TO SMALL BUSINESS CAPITAL ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM.

    (a) Definition of Financial Institution.--Section 252(5) of the 
Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 (12 
U.S.C. 4742(5)) is amended by inserting ``any community development 
financial institution (as defined in section 103(5) of this Act) and,'' 
before ``any federally chartered''.
    (b) Elimination of Threshold Appropriation.--Section 253 of the 
Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 (12 
U.S.C. 4743) is amended by striking subsection (d) and redesignating 
subsection (e) as subsection (d).
    (c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 254(a) of the Riegle Community 
Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4744(a)) 
is amended by inserting ``(if any)'' after ``appropriate Federal 
banking agency''.
    (d) Amendments to Reimbursement Authority.--Section 257(a) of the 
Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 (12 
U.S.C. 4747(a)) is amended to read as follows--
    ``(a) Reimbursements.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Fund shall reimburse participating 
        States according to criteria established by the Fund.
            ``(2) Examples of criteria.--Criteria established under 
        paragraph (1) may include whether a participating State is 
        creating a new program, is expanding in scope or scale an 
        existing State program, the need for Fund reimbursement, the 
        availability of Fund resources, and other criteria established 
        by the Fund.
            ``(3) Timing and amount of reimbursement.--Not later than 
        30 calendar days after receiving a report filed in compliance 
        with section 256, the Fund shall reimburse a participating 
        State meeting such criteria in an amount equal to up to 50 
        percent of the amount of contributions by the participating 
        State to the reserve funds that are subject to reimbursement by 
        the Fund pursuant to section 256 and this section, until such 
        sums made available by the Fund for this purpose are 
        expended.''.
    (e) Conforming Amendment.--Section 260 of the Riegle Community 
Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4750) is 
hereby repealed.

SEC. 6. ADDITIONAL SAFEGUARDS.

    (a) Neutral Review Requirements.--Section 107 of the Community 
Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 
4706) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsections:
    ``(c) Objective Scoring System.--
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of making any evaluation 
        under subsection (a) of any application, the Fund shall develop 
        a scoring system which assigns a relative point value to each 
        factor required to be considered under paragraphs (1) through 
        (14) of subsection (a) in connection with the selection of 
        applicants.
            ``(2) Notice of scoring system.--A description of the 
        scoring system shall be included in any notice of funding 
        availability issued by the Fund.
    ``(d) Neutral Multiperson Review Panel.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Fund shall convene multiperson 
        review panels to--
                    ``(A) review all applications for selection, under 
                subsection (a), on the basis of the factors required to 
                be considered under paragraphs (1) through (14) of 
                subsection (a) using the objective scoring system 
                developed pursuant to subsection (c) before any 
                selection is made by the Fund under subsection (a) with 
                respect to such applications; and
                    ``(B) make recommendations with regard to such 
                selections to the Fund on the basis of such review.
            ``(2) Composition.--The multiperson review panels shall 
        each consist of such number of members as the Fund determines 
        to be appropriate, but not less than 3, who shall be appointed 
        from among individuals who, by virtue of their education, 
        training, or experience, are specially qualified to carry out 
the responsibilities of the panel and at least 1/3 of the members of 
each panel shall be appointed from among individuals with diverse 
experiences who are not officers or employees of any government.''.
    (b) Additional Information To Be Included in Annual Reports.--
Section 117 of the Community Development Banking and Financial 
Institutions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4716) is amended by adding at the 
end the following new subsections:
    ``(g) Contract and Compliance Information.--The annual report 
submitted to the Congress by the Fund pursuant to subsection (a) shall 
contain the following information:
            ``(1) Services of contractors.--Information on the use of 
        contractors to carry out any function of the Fund under this 
        subtitle, including--
                    ``(A) a description of the services provided by 
                contractors under this subtitle during the period 
                covered by the report;
                    ``(B) a description of the procurement process 
                utilized to obtain such services;
                    ``(C) the basis of the authority of the Fund to 
                contract for the services so obtained; and
                    ``(D) the total amount obligated by the Fund for 
                such contracts.
            ``(2) Compliance with other requirements.--An evaluation of 
        the extent to which the Fund is maintaining compliance, in 
        connection with the activities of the Fund under this subtitle 
        and subtitle B of title II, with the requirements of, and 
        regulations prescribed pursuant to subsections (b) and (d) of 
        section 3512 of title 31, United States Code.
            ``(3) Plan for addressing weaknesses of internal 
        controls.--A plan for addressing any material weakness in 
        internal controls identified in the most recent external audit 
        pursuant to subsection (f).''.
    (c) Report on Implementation of Scoring System.--The 1st annual 
report submitted by the Fund to the Congress under section 117(a) of 
the Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 
1994 after the effective date of this Act shall include a complete 
description of the implementation of the scoring system required under 
subsection (c) of the amendment made by subsection (a) of this section, 
including a description of the methodology of the system.
    (d) GAO Report.--Before the end of the 18-month period beginning on 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 
United States shall submit a report to the Congress evaluating the 
structure, governance, and performance of the Community Development 
Financial Institutions Fund.
    (e) Prior Notice of Contracts.--For the purpose of ensuring that 
the requirements of section 8(a) of the Small Business Act are being 
met, and preventing evasions of such requirements, with regard to 
contracts involving the Fund and contractors under such section, the 
Fund shall submit a notice of any such contract to the Congress at 
least 15 days before any performance is due under such contract.
    (f) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--That portion of section 
107(a) of the Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions 
Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4706(a)) which appears before paragraph (1) of 
such section is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a) Selection Criteria.--Except as provided in section 113, the 
Fund shall, after considering the results of the scoring system 
developed under subsection (c) and the recommendations of the 
multiperson review panels under subsection (d), select community 
development financial institution applicants meeting the requirements 
of section 105 for assistance based on--''.
                                 <all>