[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5458 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5458


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 29, 2010

     Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To amend the Truth in Lending Act and the Higher Education Act of 1965 
  to require additional disclosures and protections for students and 
    cosigners with respect to student loans, 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; FINDINGS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Christopher Bryski 
Student Loan Protection Act'' and ``Christopher's Law''.
    (b) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) There is no requirement for Federal or private 
        educational lenders to provide information with respect to 
        creating a durable power of attorney for financial 
        decisionmaking in accordance with State law to be used in the 
        event of the death, incapacitation, or disability of the 
        borrower or such cosigner (if any).
            (2) No requirement exists for private educational lenders' 
        master promissory notes to include a clear and conspicuous 
        description of the responsibilities of a borrower and cosigner 
        in the event the borrower or cosigner becomes disabled, 
        incapacitated, or dies.
            (3) Of the 1,400,000 people who sustain a traumatic brain 
        injury each year in the United States, 50,000 die; 235,000 are 
        hospitalized; and 1,100,000 are treated and released from an 
        emergency department.
            (4) It is estimated that the annual incidence of spinal 
        cord injury, not including those who die at the scene of an 
        accident, is approximately 40 cases per 1,000,000 people in the 
        United States or approximately 12,000 new cases each year. 
        Since there have not been any overall incidence studies of 
        spinal cord injuries in the United States since the 1970s, it 
        is not known if incidence has changed in recent years.
            (5) In the 2007-2008 academic year, 13 percent of students 
        attending a 4-year public school, and 26.2 percent of students 
        attending a 4-year private school, borrowed monies from private 
        educational lenders.
            (6) According to Sallie Mae, in 2009, the number of 
        cosigned private education loans increased from 66 percent to 
        84 percent of all private education loans.

SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL STUDENT LOAN PROTECTIONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 140 of the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 
1650) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(f) Additional Protections Relating to Death or Disability of 
Borrower or Cosigner of a Private Education Loan.--
            ``(1) Obligation to discuss durable power of attorneys.--In 
        conjunction with--
                    ``(A) any student loan counseling, if any, provided 
                by a covered educational institution to any new 
                borrower and cosigner (if any) at the time of any loan 
                application, loan origination, or loan consolidation, 
                or at the time the cosigner assumes responsibility for 
                repayment, the institution shall provide information 
                with respect to creating a durable power of attorney 
                for financial decisionmaking, in accordance with State 
                law; and
                    ``(B) any application for a private education loan, 
                the private educational lender involved in such loan 
                shall provide information to the borrower, and cosigner 
                (if any), concerning the creation of a durable power of 
                attorney for financial decisionmaking, in accordance 
                with State law, with respect to such loan.
            ``(2) Clear and conspicuous description of cosigner's 
        obligation.--In the case of any private educational lender who 
        extends a private education loan for which any cosigner is 
        jointly liable, the lender shall clearly and conspicuously 
        describe, in writing, the cosigner's obligations with respect 
        to the loan, including the effect the death, disability, or 
        inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity of the 
        borrower or cosigner (if any) would have on any such 
        obligation, in language that the Board determines would give a 
        reasonable person a reasonable understanding of the obligation 
        being assumed by becoming a cosigner for the loan.
            ``(3) Model forms.--The Board shall publish model forms 
        under section 105 for--
                    ``(A) the information required under paragraph (1) 
                with respect to a durable power of attorney for 
                financial decisionmaking, for each State (and such 
                model forms under this subparagraph shall be uniform 
                for all States to the greatest extent possible); and
                    ``(B) describing a cosigner's obligation for 
                purposes of paragraph (2).
            ``(4) Definition of death, disability, or inability to 
        engage in any substantial gainful activity.--For the purposes 
        of this subsection with respect to a borrower or cosigner, the 
        term `death, disability, or inability to engage in any 
        substantial gainful activity'--
                    ``(A) means any condition described in section 
                437(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
                1087(a)); and
                    ``(B) shall be interpreted by the Board in such a 
                manner as to conform with the regulations prescribed by 
                such Secretary of Education under section 437(a) of the 
                Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087(a)) to the 
                fullest extent practicable, including safeguards to 
                prevent fraud and abuse.''.
    (b) Definitions.--Subsection (a) of section 140 of the Truth in 
Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1650(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraphs:
            ``(9) Durable power of attorney.--The term `durable power 
        of attorney'--
                    ``(A) means a written instruction recognized under 
                State law (whether statutory or as recognized by the 
                courts of the State), relating to financial 
                decisionmaking in cases when the individual lacks the 
                capacity to make such decisions; or
                    ``(B) has the meaning given to such term in the 
                Uniform Durable Power of Attorney Act of 2006 and 
                sections 5-501 through 5-505 of the Uniform Probate 
                Code, as in effect in any State.
            ``(10) Cosigner.--The term `cosigner'--
                    ``(A) means any individual who is liable for the 
                obligation of another without compensation, regardless 
                of how designated in the contract or instrument;
                    ``(B) includes any person whose signature is 
                requested as condition to grant credit or to forebear 
                on collection; and
                    ``(C) does not include a spouse of an individual 
                referred to in subparagraph (A) whose signature is 
                needed to perfect the security interest in the loan.''.

SEC. 3. FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS.

    Section 485(l)(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1092(l)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(L) Information on the conditions required to 
                discharge the loan due to the death, disability, or 
                inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity 
                of the borrower in accordance with section 437(a), and 
                an explanation that, in the case of a private education 
                loan made through a private educational lender, the 
                borrower, the borrower's estate, and any consigner of a 
                such a private education loan may be obligated to repay 
                the full amount of the loan, regardless of the death or 
                disability of the borrower or any other condition 
                described in section 437(a).
                    ``(M) The model form for the State in which the 
                institution is located with respect to durable power of 
                attorneys published by the Board of Governors of the 
                Federal Reserve System in accordance with subsection 
                (f)(3)(A) of section 140 of the Truth in Lending Act 
                (15 U.S.C. 1650) and, in the case of a borrower who is 
                not a resident of the State in which the institution is 
                located, information on how to access such model form 
                for the State in which the borrower is a resident.''.

            Passed the House of Representatives September 28, 2010.

            Attest:

                                            LORRAINE C. MILLER,

                                                                 Clerk.