[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 943 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 943

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal 
banking regulators should, with respect to well-managed community-based 
   depository institutions, permit appropriate capital forbearance, 
troubled debt restructuring accounting practices, and other time-tested 
measures that would allow such institutions to continue to provide for 
  the financial vitality for our Nation's small businesses and family 
                                 farms.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 3, 2009

     Mr. Coffman of Colorado (for himself, Mr. Perlmutter, and Mr. 
Luetkemeyer) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                  the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal 
banking regulators should, with respect to well-managed community-based 
   depository institutions, permit appropriate capital forbearance, 
troubled debt restructuring accounting practices, and other time-tested 
measures that would allow such institutions to continue to provide for 
  the financial vitality for our Nation's small businesses and family 
                                 farms.

Whereas a strong national economy and the financial well-being of millions of 
        American citizens are dependent upon the continued financial vitality of 
        our small businesses and family farms;
Whereas the economic viability of our small businesses and family farms is 
        directly tied to the ability of the Nation's community-based financial 
        institutions to provide needed credit and to permit their borrowers to 
        restructure existing debt in a responsible and reasonable manner;
Whereas problems which now pervade our economy but are expected to be transitory 
        in nature have placed severe financial pressure on a number of small 
        businesses and family farms and have, in turn, resulted in escalating 
        levels of loan defaults and depressed property values;
Whereas these economic difficulties and increases in required capitalization 
        levels by regulators have made it extremely difficult, and often 
        impossible, for community lenders to maintain their capital at levels 
        currently mandated by financial regulators without severely limiting the 
        ability of many lenders to continue to make the same levels of credit 
        available as prior to this period of economic distress;
Whereas the foregoing have had and are continuing to have spiraling downward 
        effects on the ability of many small businesses and family farms to 
        remain viable employers and strong components of the nation's economy;
Whereas under difficult economic conditions which occurred in the 1980s, Federal 
        and State agencies that regulate community based financial institutions 
        developed appropriate capital forbearance, troubled debt restructuring 
        accounting practices, and other policies to assist those institutions 
        that were well-managed; and
Whereas these measures were undertaken to ensure that these financial 
        institutions remained viable sources of financial strength for their 
        communities and to assist their borrowers in reasonable and responsible 
        allocation of credit so as to enable deserving borrowers to weather 
        temporary economic pressures; maintain access to reliable sources of 
        credit; and remain as important sources of employment and economic 
        strength: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the United States House of 
Representatives that the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal 
Reserve System, the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision and 
all other agencies, State and Federal, which regulate the conduct and 
affairs of community-based depository institutions should develop 
appropriate policies, similar to those commencing in the mid-to-late 
1980s, that will--
            (1) permit well-managed community-based depository 
        institutions to temporarily maintain capital at levels less 
        than that currently required, conditioned upon the submission 
        and regulatory approval of an appropriate plan to restore 
        capital levels by a date certain, as determined by the 
        appropriate agencies;
            (2) permit well-managed community-based depository 
        institutions to temporarily account for troubled debt 
        restructuring in a manner which allows a loan to continue to be 
        carried on the institution's books without loss recognition if 
        the loan is formally restructured in a manner so that it is 
        probable that the borrower can repay the loan under the new 
        terms and that the total future cash payments at least equal 
        the loan amount on the institution's books;
            (3) ensure that field examiners are not inappropriately 
        classifying loans based on judgements about, or relationship of 
        various types of loans, to currently stressed sectors of the 
        economy apart from the ability of the loans to show likelihood 
        of repayment based on positive cash flows, ample amounts of 
        collateral and other mitigating factors; and
            (4) include such additional temporary accommodations for 
        well-managed community-based depository institutions as the 
        agencies determine are appropriate, including regulatory 
        forbearance similar to that provided in the 1980s, to assist 
        those institutions in remaining vital sources of financial 
        strength for their communities, while maintaining needed 
        standards to assure the continued financial integrity of those 
        institutions and communities.
                                 <all>