I 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3828 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.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Suspend ACORN Certification Act of 2009.

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.

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)).