[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3828 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3828

  To temporarily suspend the approval or certification of any housing 
    counseling agencies of ACORN or its affiliates and require the 
Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to 
conduct an audit of any assistance provided by the Department to ACORN 
              and its affiliates, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 15, 2009

Mrs. Biggert (for herself, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Lee of New York, Mr. Gerlach, 
  Mr. Rogers of Michigan, Mr. Neugebauer, Mr. Paul, Mrs. Capito, Mr. 
 Manzullo, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Putnam, Mr. McCotter, Mr. Culberson, Mr. 
 Sam Johnson of Texas, Mr. Johnson of Illinois, Mr. Roe of Tennessee, 
 Mr. Ehlers, Mr. Upton, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Jones, Mr. Lamborn, 
Mr. Chaffetz, Mr. Bachus, Mrs. Bachmann, Mr. Barrett of South Carolina, 
 and Mr. McHenry) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                  the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To temporarily suspend the approval or certification of any housing 
    counseling agencies of ACORN or its affiliates and require the 
Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to 
conduct an audit of any assistance provided by the Department to ACORN 
              and its affiliates, 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 ``Suspend ACORN Certification Act of 
2009''.

SEC. 2. AUDIT AND SUSPENSION OF HOUSING COUNSELING APPROVAL.

    (a) Audit.--Not later than the expiration of the 6-month period 
beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector 
General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development shall--
            (1) with respect to each covered organization, conduct an 
        audit of all assistance within the jurisdiction of the 
        Department provided to such covered organization at any time; 
        and
            (2) make a determination of whether each such covered 
        organization has used such assistance in accordance with all 
        laws, regulations, and other terms and conditions of such 
        assistance and cause notice of such determination to be 
        published in the Federal Register.
    (b) Suspension of Housing Counseling Certification and 
Assistance.--After the date of the enactment of this Act--
            (1) no covered organization shall be considered approved, 
        certified, or authorized under section 106(e) of the Housing 
        and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701x(e)) or 
        otherwise to provide housing counseling in connection with any 
        program of the Department or to receive any assistance within 
        the jurisdiction of the Department for any housing counseling 
        activities unless and until the Inspector General of the 
        Department of Housing and Urban Development has made a 
        determination under subsection (c) with respect to all such 
        organizations; and
            (2) the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall 
        not provide any assistance within the jurisdiction of the 
        Department for any housing counseling activities to a covered 
        organization unless and until the Inspector General has made a 
        determination under subsection (c) with respect to all such 
        organizations.
    (c) Determination.--A determination under this subsection is a 
determination, pursuant to the audit conducted under subsection (a), 
that all covered organizations that, at any time, have received 
assistance within the jurisdiction of the Department have used all such 
assistance received in accordance with all laws, regulations, and other 
terms and conditions of such assistance.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall apply:
            (1) Covered organization.--The term ``covered 
        organization'' means--
                    (A) the Association of Community Organizations for 
                Reform Now (in this section referred to as ACORN); and
                    (B) any ACORN-related affiliate.
            (2) ACORN-related affiliate.--The term ``ACORN-related 
        affiliate'' means any of the following:
                    (A) Any State chapter of ACORN registered with the 
                Secretary of State's office in that State.
                    (B) Any organization that shares directors or 
                employees with ACORN.
                    (C) Any organization that has a financial stake, 
                directly or indirectly, in ACORN.
                    (D) Any organization whose finances, whether 
                federally funded, donor-funded, or raised through 
                organizational goods and services, are shared or 
                controlled, directly or indirectly, by ACORN.
            (3) Assistance within the jurisdiction of the department.--
        The term ``assistance within the jurisdiction of the 
        Department'' has the meaning given such term in section 102(m) 
        of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act 
        of 1989 (42 U.S.C. 3545(m)).
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