[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3372 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3372

 To amend the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to permit the collection of 
    demographic information in connection with small business loan 
   applications with the applicant's consent, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 29, 2001

 Mr. McGovern (for himself, Mrs. Morella, Mr. Rush, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. 
Udall of New Mexico, and Mr. Gutierrez) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to permit the collection of 
    demographic information in connection with small business loan 
   applications with the applicant's consent, 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 ``Access and Openness in Small 
Business Lending Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS LOAN DATA COLLECTION.

    (a) In General.--The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. 1691 
et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 704A the following new 
section:

``SEC. 704B. SMALL BUSINESS LOAN DATA COLLECTION.

    ``(a) In General.--Subject to the requirements of this section, in 
the case of any application to a depository institution for credit for 
a small business, the depository institution shall--
            ``(1) inquire whether the business is a women- or minority-
        owned business, without regard to whether such application is 
        received in person, by mail, by telephone, by electronic mail 
        or other form of electronic transmission, or by any other means 
        and whether or not such application is in response to a 
        solicitation by the depository institution; and
            ``(2) maintain a record of the responses to such inquiry 
        separate from the application and accompanying information.
    ``(b) Right To Refuse.--Any applicant for credit may refuse to 
provide any information requested pursuant to subsection (a) in 
connection with any application for credit.
    ``(c) No Access by Underwriters.--No loan underwriter or other 
officer or employee of the depository institution, or any affiliate of 
the depository institution, involved in making any determination 
concerning an application for credit shall have access to any 
information provided by the applicant pursuant to a request under 
subsection (a) in connection with such application.
    ``(d) Form and Manner of Information.--
            ``(1) In general.--Each depository institution shall 
        compile and maintain, in accordance with regulations of the 
        Board, a record of the information provided by any loan 
        applicant pursuant to a request under subsection (a).
            ``(2) Itemized.--Information compiled and maintained under 
        paragraph (1) shall also be itemized in order to clearly and 
        conspicuously disclose the following:
                    ``(A) The number of the application and the date 
                the application was received.
                    ``(B) The type and purpose of the loan or other 
                credit being applied for.
                    ``(C) The amount of the credit or credit limit 
                applied for and the amount of the credit transaction or 
                the credit limit approved for such applicant.
                    ``(D) The type of action taken with respect to such 
                application and the date of such action.
                    ``(E) The census tract in which is located the 
                principal place of business of the small business loan 
                applicant.
                    ``(F) The gross annual revenue of the business in 
                the last fiscal year of the small business loan 
                applicant preceding the date of the application.
            ``(3) No personally identifiable information.--In compiling 
        and maintaining any record of information under this section, a 
        depository institution may not include in such record the name, 
        specific address (other than the census tract required under 
        paragraph (1)(E)), telephone number, electronic mail address, 
        and any other personally identifiable information concerning 
        any individual who is, or is connected with, the small business 
        loan applicant.
    ``(e) Availability of Information.--
            ``(1) Submission to agencies.--The data required to be 
        compiled and maintained under this section by any depository 
        institution shall be submitted annually to the agency to whom 
        the enforcement of the requirements of this title are committed 
        under section 704.
            ``(2) Availability of information.--Information compiled 
        and maintained under this section shall be retained for not 
        less than 3 years after the date of preparation and shall be 
        made available to the public, upon request, in the form 
        required under regulations prescribed by the Board.
    ``(f) Exemption for Small Institutions.--
            ``(1) In general.--This section shall not apply to any 
        depository institution the total assets of which are equal to 
        or less than the exemption amount as of the end of the last 
        full fiscal year of the depository institution preceding the 
        date of the small business loan application.
            ``(2) Exemption amount.--For purposes of paragraph (1), the 
        exemption amount is the amount determined under subsection (a) 
        of section 309 of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 (taking 
        into account the adjustments required under subsection (b) of 
        such section).
    ``(g) Definitions.-- For purposes of this section, the following 
definitions shall apply:
            ``(1) Depository institution.--The term `depository 
        institution'--
                    ``(A) has the meaning given the term in section 3 
                of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act; and
                    ``(B) includes any credit union.
            ``(2) Minority-owned business.--The term `minority-owned 
        business' means a business--
                    ``(A) more than 50 percent of the ownership or 
                control of which is held by 1 or more minority 
                individuals; and
                    ``(B) more than 50 percent of the net profit or 
                loss of which accrues to 1 or more minority 
                individuals.
            ``(3) Women-owned business.--The term `women-owned 
        business' means a business--
                    ``(A) more than 50 percent of the ownership or 
                control of which is held by 1 or more women; and
                    ``(B) more than 50 percent of the net profit or 
                loss of which accrues to 1 or more women.
            ``(4) Minority.--The term `minority' has the meaning given 
        to such term by section 1204(c)(3) of the Financial 
        Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989.
            ``(5) Small business loan.--The term `small business loan' 
        includes any loan described or defined as a small business loan 
        under any of the following provisions of title 12 of the Code 
        of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of the 
        enactment of the Access and Openness in Small Business Lending 
        Act of 2001):
                    ``(A) Section 25.12(u) of subpart A of part 25.
                    ``(B) Section 228.12(u) of part 228.
                    ``(C) Section 345.12(u) of part 345.
                    ``(D) Section 563e(t) of part 563e.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--Section 701(b) of the 
Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. 1691(b)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or'' after the semicolon at the end of 
        paragraph (3);
            (2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (4), the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(5) to make an inquiry under section 704B in accordance 
        with the requirements of such section.''.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for title VII of the 
Consumer Credit Protection Act is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 704A the following new item:

``704B. Small business loan data collection.''.
    (d) Effective Date.--This section and the amendments made by this 
section shall take effect at the end of the __-month period beginning 
on the date of the enactment of this Act.
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