[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 871 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 871

 To provide for an application process for interested parties to apply 
 for an area to be designated as a rural area, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 26, 2015

  Mr. McConnell (for himself, Mr. Heller, Mrs. Capito, and Mr. Paul) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
            Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for an application process for interested parties to apply 
 for an area to be designated as a rural area, 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 ``Helping Expand Lending Practices in 
Rural Communities Act of 2015'' or the ``HELP Rural Communities Act of 
2015''.

SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF RURAL AREA.

    (a) Application.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection 
shall establish an application process under which a person who lives 
or does business in a State may, with respect to an area identified by 
the person in such State that has not been designated by the Bureau as 
a rural area for purposes of a Federal consumer financial law (as 
defined under section 1002 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 
2010), apply for such area to be so designated.
    (b) Evaluation Criteria.--When evaluating an application submitted 
under subsection (a), the Bureau shall take into consideration the 
following factors:
            (1) Criteria used by the Director of the Bureau of the 
        Census for classifying geographical areas as rural or urban.
            (2) Criteria used by the Director of the Office of 
        Management and Budget to designate counties as metropolitan or 
        micropolitan or neither.
            (3) Criteria used by the Secretary of Agriculture to 
        determine property eligibility for rural development programs.
            (4) The Department of Agriculture rural-urban commuting 
        area codes.
            (5) A written opinion provided by the State's bank 
        supervisor, as defined under section 3(r) of the Federal 
        Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(r)).
            (6) Population density.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--If, at any time prior to the submission 
of an application under subsection (a), the area subject to review has 
been designated as nonrural by any Federal agency described under 
subsection (b) using any of the criteria described under subsection 
(b), the Bureau shall not be required to consider such designation in 
its evaluation.
    (d) Public Comment Period.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 60 days after receiving an 
        application submitted under subsection (a), the Bureau shall--
                    (A) publish such application in the Federal 
                Register; and
                    (B) make such application available for public 
                comment for not fewer than 90 days.
            (2)  Limitation on additional applications.--Nothing in 
        this section shall be construed to require the Bureau, during 
        the public comment period with respect to an application 
        submitted under subsection (a), to accept an additional 
        application with respect to the area that is the subject of the 
        initial application.
    (e) Decision on Designation.--Not later than 90 days after the end 
of the public comment period under subsection (d)(1) for an 
application, the Bureau shall--
            (1) grant or deny such application, in whole or in part; 
        and
            (2) publish such grant or denial in the Federal Register, 
        along with an explanation of what factors the Bureau relied on 
        in making such determination.
    (f) Subsequent Applications.--A decision by the Bureau under 
subsection (e) to deny an application for an area to be designated as a 
rural area shall not preclude the Bureau from accepting a subsequent 
application submitted under subsection (a) for such area to be so 
designated, so long as such subsequent application is made after the 
end of the 90-day period beginning on the date that the Bureau denies 
the application under subsection (e).
    (g) Sunset.--This section shall cease to have any force or effect 
after the end of the 2-year period beginning on the date of the 
enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. OPERATIONS IN RURAL AREAS.

    The Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 129C(b)(2)(E)(iv)(I), by striking 
        ``predominantly''; and
            (2) in section 129D(c)(1), by striking ``predominantly''.
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