[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1226 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1226

To establish a mechanism for developing uniform United States positions 
on issues before the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision at the Bank 
 for International Settlements, to require a review on the most recent 
    recommendation of the Basel Committee for an accord on capital 
                   standards, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 10, 2005

    Mr. Bachus (for himself, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Oxley, Mr. Frank of 
    Massachusetts, Ms. Pryce of Ohio, Mr. Baker, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. 
Capuano, Mr. Kanjorski, Mr. Jones of North Carolina, Mrs. Biggert, Mr. 
 Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mr. Gerlach, Mr. Gillmor, Mr. Gutierrez, 
 Mr. Ford, Mr. Leach, Mr. Castle, Mr. Ryun of Kansas, Mr. Crowley, Mr. 
 Paul, Mr. Neugebauer, Mr. Manzullo, Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida, 
and Mr. Clay) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish a mechanism for developing uniform United States positions 
on issues before the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision at the Bank 
 for International Settlements, to require a review on the most recent 
    recommendation of the Basel Committee for an accord on capital 
                   standards, 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 ``United States Financial Policy 
Committee For Fair Capital Standards Act''.

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES FINANCIAL POLICY COMMITTEE.

    (a) Establishment.--There is hereby established an inter-agency 
committee, to be known as the ``United States Financial Policy 
Committee'' (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ``Committee''), 
which shall consist of--
            (1) the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall serve as the 
        Chairperson of the Committee;
            (2) the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal 
        Reserve System;
            (3) the Comptroller of the Currency;
            (4) the Chairperson of the Federal Deposit Insurance 
        Corporation; and
            (5) the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of the Committee is to develop uniform 
United States positions on proposals made to, and issues before, the 
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision that, if implemented, may 
directly or indirectly affect United States financial institutions.
    (c) Meetings.--The Committee shall meet before any meeting of the 
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision that is related to, or is 
expected to involve a discussion of, capital standards and at any other 
time the Chairperson or any member of the Committee calls for a 
meeting.
    (d) Adherence to Committee Position.--
            (1) In general.--Each member of the Committee that is a 
        participant on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision shall 
        adhere to the positions of the Committee in any negotiations of 
        the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
            (2) Lack of uniform position.--If the members of the 
        Committee that are participants on the Basel Committee on 
        Banking Supervision are unable to agree on a uniform position 
        on an issue, the position of the Secretary of the Treasury 
        shall be determinative for purposes of paragraph (1) with 
        respect to such issue.
    (e) Reports to the Congress.--
            (1) Annual report.--
                    (A) In general.--The Committee shall submit an 
                annual report to the Congress on the proceedings of the 
                Committee during the period covered by the report.
                    (B) Contents of report.--The report shall include--
                            (i) a brief description of issues that were 
                        addressed by the Committee;
                            (ii) a brief description of the uniform 
                        positions developed by the Committee with 
                        respect to such issues; and
                            (iii) in the case of any issue for which a 
                        uniform policy was not agreed to, a brief 
                        description of the positions of the parties to 
                        the disagreement and an explanation of the 
                        reasons why the parties could not reach an 
                        agreement.
            (2) Reports to the congress prior to agreement on any basel 
        accord.--
                    (A) In general.--No Federal banking agency (as 
                defined in section 3(z) of the Federal Deposit 
                Insurance Act) may agree to any proposed recommendation 
                of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision before 
                the agency submits a report on the proposed 
                recommendation to the Congress.
                    (B) Consultations.--The head of any Federal banking 
                agency that submits a report to the Congress under 
                subparagraph (A) shall consult with the Congress 
                concerning the proposal.
            (3) Evaluation of new basel capital accord.--The Federal 
        banking agencies (as defined in section 3(z) of the Federal 
        Deposit Insurance Act), in consultation with the Secretary of 
        the Treasury, shall evaluate the impact of the revised Capital 
        Accord, taking into account the following factors, and shall 
        include such evaluation in the report:
                    (A) The cost and complexity of the proposal.
                    (B) The impact of the proposal on small, medium, 
                and large financial institutions.
                    (C) The impact of the proposal on real estate 
                markets.
                    (D) The effect of an operational risk capital 
                standard on the resilience of the Nation's financial 
                system and competition.
                    (E) The impact of the proposal on competition 
                between banks and other financial institutions.
                    (F) The need for additional training for 
                supervision and examination personnel.
                    (G) Any comments filed by the public after notice 
                and an opportunity to comment for a period of not less 
                than 60 days.
                    (H) The relative impact of compliance by domestic 
                banks.
    (f) Administrative Support Services.--Each agency represented on 
the Committee shall provide such administrative support services as may 
be necessary for the Committee to carry out its responsibilities under 
this Act.

SEC. 3. REPRESENTATION ON BASEL COMMITTEE ON BANKING SUPERVISION FOR 
              THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF THRIFT SUPERVISION.

    (a) In General.--Section 912 of the International Lending 
Supervision Act of 1983 (12 U.S.C. 3911) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``sec. 912.  As one of the three'' and 
        inserting the following:
    ``(a) FDIC.--As one of the 4''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(b) Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision.--As 1 of the 4 
Federal bank regulatory and supervisory agencies, the Director of the 
Office of Thrift Supervision shall be given equal representation with 
the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Comptroller 
of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on the 
Committee on Banking Regulations and Supervisory Practices of the Group 
of Ten Countries and Switzerland.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The heading for section 
912 of the International Lending Supervision Act of 1983 (12 U.S.C. 
3911) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 912. EQUAL REPRESENTATION FOR THE FDIC AND THE DIRECTOR OF THE 
              OFFICE OF THRIFT SUPERVISION.''.

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