[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1553 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1553

  To amend the Home Owners' Loan Act to provide equitable remedies to 
 mutual savings institutions to defend against individuals acting as a 
de facto corporation attempting to implement a hostile takeover of the 
                  institution, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 17, 2009

 Mr. Ackerman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on 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 Home Owners' Loan Act to provide equitable remedies to 
 mutual savings institutions to defend against individuals acting as a 
de facto corporation attempting to implement a hostile takeover of the 
                  institution, 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 ``Mutual Savings Association 
Preservation Act''.

SEC. 2. CAUSE OF ACTION ESTABLISHED.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (h) of section 10 of the Home Owners' 
Loan Act (U.S.C. 1467a(h)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or'' after the semicolon at the end of 
        paragraph (2);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (3) and 
        inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (3), the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(4) any company or any subsidiary of any company, any 
        director, officer, employee or person owning, controlling, or 
        holding with the power to vote, or holding proxies representing 
        more than 25 percent of the voting shares, of such company or 
        subsidiary, or any director, officer, employee or person acting 
        in concert with such company or subsidiary, to hold, solicit, 
        or exercise any proxies in respect of a savings association 
        which is a mutual association, with the view or intention to, 
        directly or indirectly, control or attempt to control the 
        mutual association.''.
    (b) Enforcement Action.--Subsection (i) of section 10 of the Home 
Owners' Loan Act (U.S.C. 1467a(i)) is amended by inserting after 
paragraph (3) the following new paragraph:
            ``(4) Civil actions by association.--
                    ``(A) Equitable relief.--Any aggrieved mutual 
                savings association may bring a civil action in a court 
                of appropriate jurisdiction and may recover such 
                equitable relief, including injunctive relief, and 
                reasonable attorneys fees, as determined by the court 
                for any violation or attempted violation of paragraph 
                (1) or (4) of subsection (h).
                    ``(B) Proxies null and void.--In addition to any 
                damages or relief under paragraph (1), any proxy held 
                or exercised by any party the holding or exercise of 
                which has been determined to be a violation of 
                paragraph (1) or (4) of subsection (h) shall be deemed 
                null and void, as of the inception of such proxy, and 
                shall not be counted for purposes of determining a 
                quorum at any meeting of such aggrieved mutual 
                association.
                    ``(C) Statute of limitation.--
                            ``(i) In general.--An action may not be 
                        brought under subparagraph (A) after the end of 
                        the 180-day period beginning on the later of--
                                    ``(I) the date of the discovery of 
                                the alleged violation by the aggrieved 
                                mutual savings association; or
                                    ``(II) the date of the enactment of 
                                the Mutual Savings Association 
                                Preservation Act.
                            ``(ii) `No attribution' rule.--For purposes 
                        of clause (i)(I), the knowledge of the facts 
                        and circumstances giving rise to an alleged 
                        violation by any party to the violation shall 
                        not be attributed to the savings 
                        association.''.
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