[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2698 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2698

 To provide regulatory easement for lending institutions that enable a 
                            vibrant economy.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 30, 2014

   Mr. King (for himself, Mr. Warner, Mr. Tester, and Mrs. Fischer) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
            Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide regulatory easement for lending institutions that enable a 
                            vibrant economy.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Regulatory 
Easement for Lending Institutions that Enable a Vibrant Economy Act of 
2014'' or the ``RELIEVE Act''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title.
   TITLE I--EXPANSION OF SMALL BANK HOLDING COMPANY POLICY STATEMENT 
                               DEFINITION

Sec. 101. Changes required to small bank holding company policy 
                            statement on assessment of financial and 
                            managerial factors.
Sec. 102. Conforming amendment.
Sec. 103. Definitions.
            TITLE II--QUALIFIED MORTGAGES FOR RURAL LENDERS

Sec. 201. Qualified mortgages for rural lenders.
        TITLE III--INSURANCE OF AMOUNTS HELD ON BEHALF OF OTHERS

Sec. 301. Insurance of amounts held on behalf of others.

   TITLE I--EXPANSION OF SMALL BANK HOLDING COMPANY POLICY STATEMENT 
                               DEFINITION

SEC. 101. CHANGES REQUIRED TO SMALL BANK HOLDING COMPANY POLICY 
              STATEMENT ON ASSESSMENT OF FINANCIAL AND MANAGERIAL 
              FACTORS.

    (a) In General.--Before the end of the 6-month period beginning on 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 
``Board'') shall publish in the Federal Register proposed revisions to 
the Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement on Assessment of 
Financial and Managerial Factors (12 C.F.R. part 225 appendix C) that 
provide that the policy shall apply to bank holding companies and 
savings and loan holding companies which have pro forma consolidated 
assets of less than $1,000,000,000 and that--
            (1) are not engaged in significant nonbanking activities 
        either directly or through a nonbank subsidiary;
            (2) do not conduct significant off-balance sheet activities 
        (including securitization and asset management or 
        administration) either directly or through a nonbank 
        subsidiary; and
            (3) do not have a material amount of debt or equity 
        securities outstanding (other than trust preferred securities) 
        that are registered with the Securities and Exchange 
        Commission.
    (b) Exclusions.--The Board may exclude any bank holding company or 
savings and loan holding company, regardless of asset size, from the 
policy statement under subsection (a) if the Board determines that such 
action is warranted for supervisory purposes.

SEC. 102. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

    Section 171(b)(5)(C) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and 
Consumer Protection Act (12 U.S.C. 5371(b)(5)(C)) is amended by 
inserting ``or small savings and loan holding company'' after ``any 
small bank holding company''.

SEC. 103. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this title:
     (a) Bank Holding Company.--The term ``bank holding company'' has 
the same meaning as in section 2 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 
1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841).
    (b) Savings and Loan Holding.--The term ``savings and loan holding 
company'' has the same meaning as in section 10(a) of the Home Owners' 
Loan Act (12 U.S.C. 1467a(a)).

            TITLE II--QUALIFIED MORTGAGES FOR RURAL LENDERS

SEC. 201. QUALIFIED MORTGAGES FOR RURAL LENDERS.

    Section 129C(b)(2) of the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 
1639c(b)(2)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (E)(vi)(II), by striking ``a limit set 
        by the Board'' and inserting ``1,000 per year''; and
            (2) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the following:
                    ``(F) Rural.--The term `rural' means any area other 
                than--
                            ``(i) a city or town that has a population 
                        of greater than 50,000 inhabitants; and
                            ``(ii) any urbanized area contiguous and 
                        adjacent to a city or town described in clause 
                        (i).''.

        TITLE III--INSURANCE OF AMOUNTS HELD ON BEHALF OF OTHERS

SEC. 301. INSURANCE OF AMOUNTS HELD ON BEHALF OF OTHERS.

    Section 207(k) of the Federal Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1787(k)) 
is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(A)--
                    (A) by inserting after ``payable to any member'' 
                the following: ``, or to any person with funds lawfully 
                held in a member account,''; and
                    (B) by striking ``and paragraphs (5) and (6)'';
            (2) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ``(as determined under 
        paragraph (5))'';
            (3) by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (6); and
            (4) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following:
            ``(5) Coverage for interest on lawyers trust accounts and 
        other similar escrow accounts.--
                    ``(A) Pass-through insurance.--The Administration 
                shall provide pass-through share insurance for the 
                deposits or shares of any interest on lawyers trust 
                account (commonly referred to as `IOLTA') or other 
                similar escrow accounts.
                    ``(B) Treatment of ioltas.--
                            ``(i) Treatment as escrow accounts.--For 
                        share insurance purposes, IOLTAs are treated as 
                        escrow accounts.
                            ``(ii) Treatment as member accounts.--
                        IOLTAs and other similar escrow accounts are 
                        considered member accounts for purposes of 
                        paragraph (1), if the attorney administering 
                        the IOLTA or the escrow agent administering the 
                        escrow account is a member of the insured 
                        credit union in which the funds are held.
                    ``(C) Definitions.--For purposes of this paragraph:
                            ``(i) Interest on lawyers trust account.--
                        The terms `interest on lawyers trust account' 
                        or `IOLTA' mean a system in which lawyers place 
                        certain client funds in interest-bearing or 
                        dividend-bearing accounts, with the interest or 
                        dividends then used to fund programs such as 
                        legal service organizations who provide 
                        services to clients in need.
                            ``(ii) Pass-through share insurance.--The 
                        term `pass-through share insurance' means, with 
                        respect to IOLTAs and other similar escrow 
                        accounts, insurance coverage based on the 
                        interest of each person on whose behalf funds 
                        are held in such accounts by the attorney 
                        administering the IOLTA or the escrow agent 
                        administering a similar escrow account, in 
                        accordance with regulations issued by the 
                        Administration.
                    ``(D) Rule of construction.--No provision of this 
                paragraph shall be construed as authorizing an insured 
                credit union to accept the deposits of an IOLTA or 
                similar escrow account in an amount greater than such 
                credit union is authorized to accept under any other 
                provision of Federal or State law.''.
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