[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 859 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 859

    To repeal the prohibition on the payment of interest on demand 
                   deposits, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 13, 2003

Mr. Toomey (for himself, Mr. Kanjorski, Mrs. Biggert, Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. 
 Shays, and Ms. Hooley of Oregon) introduced the following bill; which 
          was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To repeal the prohibition on the payment of interest on demand 
                   deposits, 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 ``Business Checking Freedom Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. INTEREST-BEARING TRANSACTION ACCOUNTS AUTHORIZED.

    (a) Repeal of Prohibition on Payment of Interest on Demand 
Deposits.--
            (1) Federal reserve act.--Section 19(i) of the Federal 
        Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 371a) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(i) [Repealed]''.
            (2) Home owners' loan act.--The first sentence of section 
        5(b)(1)(B) of the Home Owners' Loan Act (12 U.S.C. 
        1464(b)(1)(B)) is amended by striking ``savings association may 
        not--'' and all that follows through ``(ii) permit any'' and 
        inserting ``savings association may not permit any''.
            (3) Federal deposit insurance act.--Section 18(g) of the 
        Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1828(g)) is amended to 
        read as follows:
    ``(g) [Repealed]''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect at the end of the 1-year period beginning on the date of 
the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    In the case of an escrow account maintained at a depository 
institution in connection with a real estate transaction--
            (1) the absorption, by the depository institution, of 
        expenses incidental to providing a normal banking service with 
        respect to such escrow account;
            (2) the forbearance, by the depository institution, from 
        charging a fee for providing any such banking function; and
            (3) any benefit which may accrue to the holder or the 
        beneficiary of such escrow account as a result of an action of 
        the depository institution described in subparagraph (1) or (2) 
        or similar in nature to such action,
shall not be treated as the payment or receipt of interest for purposes 
of this Act and any provision of Public Law 93-100, the Federal Reserve 
Act, the Home Owners' Loan Act, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Act 
relating to the payment of interest on accounts or deposits at 
depository institutions.
                                 <all>