[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1500 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1500
To require the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to meet its
statutory purpose, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 5, 2019
Ms. Waters (for herself, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Ms.
Velazquez, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Clay, Mr. David Scott of
Georgia, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Himes,
Mr. Foster, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Heck, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Gonzalez of Texas,
Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mr. San Nicolas, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Porter, Mrs.
Axne, Ms. Pressley, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Wexton, Mr. Lynch, Ms.
Gabbard, Ms. Adams, Ms. Dean, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, and Ms. Garcia of
Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on
Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to meet its
statutory purpose, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Consumers First
Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings; sense of Congress.
Sec. 3. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Sec. 4. Conforming amendments.
Sec. 5. Executive and administration powers.
Sec. 6. Offices of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Sec. 7. Consumer Advisory Board reforms.
Sec. 8. Effective date.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
(1) The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act (Public Law 111-203) (``Dodd-Frank''), was
signed into law on July 21, 2010, in order to, among other
things, advance the goals of protecting consumers from
predatory financial services practices and products that led to
the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
(2) Title X of Dodd-Frank established a new Federal
independent watchdog, known as the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (``Consumer Bureau''), with broad authority
to ensure that all hardworking consumers are given clear,
accurate information that they need to shop for mortgages,
credit cards, and other consumer financial products or services
and to protect consumers from hidden fees, abusive terms, and
other unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices through
strong implementation and enforcement of Federal consumer
financial laws.
(3) Before the Consumer Bureau was established, Federal
financial regulators were tasked with the dual responsibilities
of supervising institutions for safety and soundness and
compliance with consumer protections under Federal consumer
financial laws. These agencies often prioritized the
profitability of their regulated entities over the protection
of consumers, even when institutions were found to have engaged
in practices detrimental to their own customers' financial
well-being.
(4) Congress purposefully created the independent Consumer
Bureau within the Federal Reserve System to address past
regulatory gaps in our country's financial regulatory regime--
gaps that resulted in the most severe global financial crisis
since the Great Depression. Among other things, Federal
financial regulators were too reluctant to exercise their
rulemaking, supervisory, and enforcement authorities to protect
consumers from the misdeeds of the Consumer Bureau's regulated
entities. In creating the Consumer Bureau, Congress explicitly
laid out in statute the Consumer Bureau's purpose, five
objectives, and six primary functions. Specifically:
(A) Section 1021(a) of Dodd-Frank states that the
Consumer Bureau, ``shall seek to implement and, where
applicable, enforce Federal consumer financial law
consistently for the purpose of ensuring that all
consumers have access to markets for consumer financial
products and services and that markets for consumer
financial products and services are fair, transparent,
and competitive''.
(B) Section 1021(b) of Dodd-Frank authorizes the
Consumer Bureau, ``to exercise its authorities under
Federal consumer financial law for the purposes of
ensuring that, with respect to consumer financial
products and services--(1) consumers are provided with
timely and understandable information to make
responsible decisions about financial transactions; (2)
consumers are protected from unfair, deceptive, or
abusive acts and practices and from discrimination; (3)
outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations
are regularly identified and addressed in order to
reduce unwarranted regulatory burdens; (4) Federal
consumer financial law is enforced consistently,
without regard to the status of a person as a
depository institution, in order to promote fair
competition; and (5) markets for consumer financial
products and services operate transparently and
efficiently to facilitate access and innovation.''.
(C) Section 1021(c) of Dodd-Frank establishes the
primary functions of the Consumer Bureau to be, ``(1)
conducting financial education programs; (2)
collecting, investigating, and responding to consumer
complaints; (3) collecting, researching, monitoring,
and publishing information relevant to the functioning
of markets for consumer financial products and services
to identify risks to consumers and the proper
functioning of such markets; (4) subject to sections
1024 through 1026, supervising covered persons for
compliance with Federal consumer financial law, and
taking appropriate enforcement action to address
violations of Federal consumer financial law; (5)
issuing rules, orders, and guidance implementing
Federal consumer financial law; and (6) performing such
support activities as may be necessary or useful to
facilitate the other functions of the Bureau.''.
(5) In doing so, Congress explicitly laid out these
consumer-focused purpose, objectives, and primary functions for
the Consumer Bureau to ensure that all consumers and all
communities are protected. This is of extreme importance to
communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted
by the inequities of the financial system, resulting in an
extreme racial wealth divide. Decades of segregation and
discrimination have prevented consumers of colors from amassing
wealth equal to their white counterparts, while predatory
financial practices of have stripped consumers of color of
their nominal existing wealth. For example, over the past 30
years, the average wealth of White families has grown by 84
percent--1.2 times the rate of growth for the Latino population
and three times the rate of growth for the Black population. In
light of historical practices and current-day disparities in
banking and lending practices, the Consumer Bureau plays a key
role in protecting communities of color from wealth-stripping
financial products and ensuring their right to wealth building
opportunities. The agency's enforcement actions in auto
lending, mortgages, and credit cards, and its rulemaking
efforts have sought to address the predatory financial products
such as payday loans and prepaid cards that are prolific in
communities of color. The Consumer Bureau is essential in
protecting vulnerable communities from discriminatory financial
practices that has both perpetuated and exacerbated the racial
wealth gap.
(6) Under Dodd-Frank, the Deputy Director of the Consumer
Bureau shall serve as the Acting Director in the absence or
unavailability of the Director, until the President appoints
and the Senate confirms a new Director. Despite the plain
letter of the law establishing a succession order to fill a
vacancy in the Director's position and the clear legislative
history underscoring the importance of having an independent
Federal consumer-focused agency, when the Consumer Bureau
Director Richard Cordray resigned in November 2017, President
Trump refused to recognize the Deputy Director as the rightful
head of the agency and instead installed Mr. Mick Mulvaney, the
Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, to
serve as the Consumer Bureau's Acting Director. This
appointment of a White House cabinet official to run the
Consumer Bureau raises profound conflict of interest questions
and undermines the vital independent nature of the agency.
(7) Additionally, the position of Acting Director is, by
its nature, intended to be a temporary assignment to maintain
the status quo at an agency and to ensure the agency is
fulfilling its statutory purpose and mandates, until the
President appoints, and the Senate confirms a permanent
Director. Nevertheless, during his tenure, Mr. Mulvaney
instituted drastic and severe changes to the Consumer Bureau's
daily operations and priorities contrary to the agency's
statutory purpose and mandates.
(8) The daily operations of a Federal agency are guided by
its official mission contained in its long-term strategic plan.
The Consumer Bureau's mission should embrace both the spirit
and plain letter of the law by fully recognizing the agency's
statutory purpose, objectives, and functions. It is troubling
that the Consumer Bureau, under Mr. Mulvaney, issued a
Strategic Plan for Fiscal Year (``FY'') 2018-FY 2022 that
appears to deemphasize the Consumer Bureau's core mandate under
section 1021(a) of Dodd-Frank to, ``enforce Federal consumer
financial law consistently for the purpose of ensuring that all
consumers have access to markets for consumer financial
products and services'', by not referencing the importance of
enforcement in its mission. Instead, it emphasizes financial
education by stating that the agency's new mission is, ``[t]o
regulate the offering and provision of consumer financial
products or services under the Federal consumer financial laws
and to educate and empower consumers to make better informed
financial decisions''. This is in stark contrast from the
Consumer Bureau's Strategic Plan for FY 2013-FY 2017, which
stated that the agency's mission is helping, ``consumer finance
markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently
and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers
to take more control over their economic lives'' (emphasis
added).
(9) Mr. Mulvaney has been praised by the White House for
his efforts to undermine the Consumer Bureau, with one
anonymous advisor acknowledging in a July 24, 2018, Politico
article that, ``His mission was to blow that up, which he has.
He is very well-suited to the chaos.''. Mr. Mulvaney's
misguided actions have included, among other things--
(A) stopping payments from the Civil Penalty Fund
to harmed consumers;
(B) trying to reduce the Consumer Bureau's funding
and staffing by initially requesting $0 be transferred
from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to carry
out the agency's work, imposing a freeze on hiring
professional career staff, and by arbitrarily directing
staff to cut the agency's budget by \1/5\;
(C) politicizing the work of the Consumer Bureau by
making unusual efforts to fill the independent agency
with political appointees;
(D) reducing the Consumer Bureau's enforcement
work, including taking only six enforcement actions in
the first three quarters of 2018 (compared with 54
enforcement actions taken by the agency in 2015, 42
enforcement actions in 2016 and 36 enforcement actions
in 2017), and dropping existing lawsuits and
investigations into predatory payday lenders;
(E) taking steps that would undermine efforts to
promote fair lending and combat discriminatory
practices, including by hiring, and later refusing to
remove, a political appointee with a history of racist
written commentary to oversee the Office of
Supervision, Enforcement, and Fair Lending, stripping
away the enforcement powers of the Office of Fair
Lending and Equal Opportunity, seeking to curb the
Consumer Bureau's data collection under the Home
Mortgage Disclosure Act, and indicating the Consumer
Bureau would reconsider its approach toward enforcing
the Equal Credit Opportunity Act;
(F) changing the role of the Office of Students and
Young Consumers and, according to an August 27, 2018,
resignation letter from Seth Frotman, the Consumer
Bureau's former Assistant Director and Student Loan
Ombudsman, ``when new evidence came to light showing
that the nation's largest banks were ripping off
students on campuses across the country by saddling
them with legally dubious account fees, Bureau
leadership suppressed the publication of a report
prepared by Bureau staff'';
(G) abandoning the accepted and efficient practice
of having its examiners review, as part of their
routine examinations, creditors' compliance with the
Military Lending Act in order to ensure the detection
and assessment of risky activities that could
jeopardize vital protections provided to active-duty
servicemembers and their families;
(H) creating an Office of Cost Benefit Analysis
that prioritizes businesses' expenses over harm caused
to consumers, and unduly constrains oversight of the
Consumer Bureau's regulated entities;
(I) freezing data collection to the detriment of
supervision and enforcement;
(J) seeking to block the publication of the nature
of consumers' complaints and how entities resolved them
in the publicly available and transparent Consumer
Complaint Database;
(K) restricting key input and feedback from a wide
range of external stakeholders by effectively
terminating members' positions on three advisory
boards, including the statutorily mandated Consumer
Advisory Board;
(L) proposing policies, including those regarding
no-action letters, model disclosure pilot projects, and
product sandboxes, that could put many kinds of
financial institutions in an enforcement-free zone,
letting bad actors that harm consumers off the hook
entirely from enforcement, and allowing them to ignore
the law; and
(M) neglecting to impose promptly any civil money
penalty on a bank when it was found to be, among other
things, improperly obtaining consumer reports and
furnishing to consumer reporting agencies inaccurate
information about consumers' credit.
(10) The repeated efforts under Mr. Mulvaney's leadership
to hamstring the good work, passion, commitment, and the
capacity of dedicated professional, career Consumer Bureau
staff to fulfill the agency's statutory mission has likely
contributed to low employee morale. According to a government-
wide annual survey published in December 2018 that was
conducted by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public
Service, the Consumer Bureau experienced the largest decline in
employee morale for a government agency of its size. A
workplace with low morale undermines, among other things, the
agency's ability to hold bad actors accountable when they harm
consumers, and if unaddressed, will distort the functioning of
fair and competitive consumer marketplaces.
(11) Despite the fact that the agency has been referred to
as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since it was
created in 2010, Mr. Mulvaney opted to change the agency's
well-known name. Although this decision is supposedly intended
to ensure that the agency is in compliance with Dodd-Frank,
when this change is viewed in conjunction with the other
detrimental actions to undermine the effectiveness of the
agency, it can only be interpreted as an attempt to reduce the
public's awareness of, and significant support for, the
agency's role as the top Federal consumer cop as well as to
obscure the public's ability to easily identify the appropriate
Federal agency to contact when faced with predatory behavior by
financial actors. As such, while some may view this particular
decision as minor, the action served as an important symbolic
and literal maneuver by the Trump Administration, through its
appointment of Mr. Mulvaney, to diminish and undermine the
consumer-focused mission of the Consumer Bureau. Director Kathy
Kraninger, who was duly nominated by the President and
confirmed by the Senate, announced plans in an email to staff
on December 19, 2018, to reverse course and return to utilizing
the agency's well-known name. However, questions remain
regarding how this change will be implemented and to what
extent the agency may continue to utilize Mr. Mulvaney's
preferred name in certain circumstances.
(12) During Mr. Mulvaney's more than 12-month tenure
running the agency, he only appeared once before the House
Financial Services Committee to discuss his activities at the
Consumer Bureau. This is despite the fact that the law
requires, at a minimum, the Director's testimony before the
Committee semi-annually. This weak congressional oversight
under the direction of the previous Republican Majority pales
in comparison to their oversight of the Consumer Bureau during
former Director Richard Cordray's tenure. During Director
Cordray's tenure, he and other senior Consumer Bureau officials
testified before Congress more than 60 times; the agency was
compelled to produce more than 200,000 pages of documents in
response to over 90 letters of inquiry; more than 20 subpoenas
were sent to the Consumer Bureau; and several of the Consumer
Bureau's former and current employees were compelled to sit for
depositions over 21 days, that lasted 136 hours, and produced
3,194 pages of transcripts.
(13) Dodd-Frank gives the Director of the Consumer Bureau
broad administrative and executive powers to, among other
things: fix the number of, and appoint and direct, all
employees of the agency; direct the establishment and
maintenance of divisions or other offices within the agency;
determine the character of, and the necessity for, the
obligations and expenditure of funds; and the use and
expenditure of funds. These powers, however, are required to be
exercised in a manner consistent with carrying out the
responsibilities under Title X of Dodd-Frank, which includes
complying with the enumerated Federal consumer financial laws
under the Title, and satisfying the obligations in other
applicable laws. Mr. Mulvaney's destructive actions have
demonstrated the need for legislation to reorient the
Director's discretionary authority to ensure the maintenance of
all statutorily mandated policies, functions, and offices of
the Consumer Bureau regardless of who is leading the agency.
(b) Sense of Congress.--The following is the sense of Congress:
(1) The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should meet
its statutory purpose in a transparent and accountable manner
by operating in a way that is consistent with both the spirit
and plain letter of the law. This includes the agency fully
carrying out the agency's statutory purpose, objectives, and
functions, and the agency being transparent, timely, and
responsive to all requests from Congress.
(2) Dodd-Frank underscores that the agency is designed to
serve as an independent Federal agency that is primarily
focused on the protection of all consumers, without any undue
influence of partisan whims and special industry interests, in
carrying out its responsibilities and duties.
(3) The official name of the agency should be consistent
with this mandate, and the agency should, figuratively and
literally, put ``Consumers'' first by using its better-known
name as the ``Consumer Financial Protection Bureau''. Thus, any
remaining utilization by the agency of the name, ``Bureau of
Consumer Financial Protection'', or the acronym ``BCFP'',
should cease in all forms.
(4) The statute establishing the Consumer Bureau has been
grossly misinterpreted under Mr. Mulvaney's leadership, in a
manner that is inconsistent with the agency's statutory
purpose, objectives, and functions. One example of this was Mr.
Mulvaney's inane suggestion that the statutory requirement for
the Director to appear before relevant Congressional Committees
to discuss its semi-annual reports could be interpreted as
requiring the Director merely to attend a hearing and not
answer questions, despite the well-established interpretation
of a similar statutory requirement for the Chair of the Federal
Reserve Board of Governors to appear before the House Financial
Services Committee and the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs Committee on a semi-annual basis about the monetary
policy report, as required by the Humphrey-Hawkins Full
Employment Act. In the face of such blatant and disrespectful
attempts to warp the authorizing and oversight role of the
first branch of the Federal Government--the United States
Congress--by the Trump Administration, Congress must, in this
instance, now refine the Consumer Bureau's authority to ensure
that the vital role that the Consumer Bureau should be playing
within the country's financial regulatory regime is not
effectively destroyed by the agency's current leadership.
(5) The Consumer Bureau, now under a new Director, should
promptly reverse all anti-consumer actions taken during Mr.
Mulvaney's tenure, including the actions identified by this
legislation, to ensure that the agency is fully complying with
its statutory purpose, objectives, and functions to protect all
consumers, including communities of color and vulnerable
populations. One important action is for the Consumer Bureau to
resume robust fair lending enforcement to ensure that every
consumer has fair and equal access to affordable financial
products and services. Another demonstration of this would be
for the Consumer Bureau to immediately resume supervision of
its regulated entities for compliance with the Military Lending
Act to ensure for the most robust and efficient protection of
active-duty servicemembers and their families. Other examples
include the Consumer Bureau significantly revising its
strategic plan to align it with its statutory purpose,
objectives and functions, and for the agency to immediately
resume coordinating closely with other Federal agencies, such
as the Department of Education and the Department of Defense,
and State regulators, as is required by section 1015 of Dodd-
Frank to, ``promote consistent regulatory treatment of consumer
financial and investment products and services.''
(6) While the legislation is a direct response to address
many of the misguided decisions that have been orchestrated
under Mr. Mulvaney's leadership at the Consumer Bureau that
have been exposed to the public, as of the date of the bill's
introduction, and sharply criticized by numerous Federal and
State officials, including law enforcement, as well as
organizations representing servicemembers, senior citizens, and
other vulnerable consumer populations, this legislation should
not be viewed as an exhaustive list to fix all the damaging
actions that may have occurred at this agency since the
departure of former Director Cordray in November 2017,
particularly since detailed information revealing the full
scope, nature, and extent of the current flawed operation of
the agency, and the adverse impact resulting from these
actions, may not yet be publicly available. Rather, this
legislation should be interpreted as an attempt to highlight
and resolve a small sample of the publicly known egregious
statements, decisions, and actions that have occurred since
November 2017.
SEC. 3. CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU.
(a) In General.--Section 1011(a) of the Consumer Financial
Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5491(a)) is amended by striking
``Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection'' and inserting ``Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau''.
(b) Deeming of Name.--Any reference in any law, regulation,
document, record, or other paper of the United States to the ``Bureau
of Consumer Financial Protection'' shall be deemed a reference to the
``Consumer Financial Protection Bureau''.
(c) Name Use Requirement.--Section 1011 of the Consumer Financial
Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5491) is amended by adding at the end
the following:
``(f) Name Use Requirement.--The Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau shall refer to itself in any public communication, including on
any website, as the `Consumer Financial Protection Bureau' or the
`CFPB'.''.
SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.
(a) In General.--The Acts described under subsection (b) are
amended by striking ``Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection'' each
place such term appears and inserting ``Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau''.
(b) Acts To Conform.--The Acts described in this subsection are as
follows:
(1) The Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity Act of 1982
(12 U.S.C. 3801 et seq.).
(2) The Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et
seq.).
(3) The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act (12 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.).
(4) The Expedited Funds Availability Act (12 U.S.C. 4001 et
seq.).
(5) The Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1811 et
seq.).
(6) The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3201 et seq.).
(7) The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and
Enforcement Act of 1989 (12 U.S.C. 1811 note et seq.).
(8) The Financial Literacy and Education Improvement Act
(20 U.S.C. 9701 et seq.).
(9) The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (12 U.S.C. 1811 note et
seq.).
(10) The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 (12 U.S.C.
2801 et seq.).
(11) The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 (12 U.S.C. 4901
et seq.).
(12) The Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App 2).
(13) The Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act (15
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).
(14) The Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (Public Law 111-
8).
(15) The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (12
U.S.C. 2601 et seq.).
(16) Title LXII of the Revised Statutes of the United
States (12 U.S.C. 21 et seq.).
(17) The Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C.
3401 et seq.).
(18) The S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C.
5101 et seq.).
(19) The Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse
Prevention Act (15 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.).
(20) Title 5, United States Code.
(21) Title 10, United States Code.
(22) Title 44, United States Code.
SEC. 5. EXECUTIVE AND ADMINISTRATION POWERS.
(a) Office Responsibilities.--Section 1012 of the Consumer
Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5492) is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
``(c) Office Responsibilities.--Notwithstanding subsections (a) and
(b), section 1013(a), and any other provision of law, with respect to
the specific functional units and offices described under subsections
(b), (c), (d), (e), (g), and (h) of section 1013 and the advisory
boards described under section 1014, the Director--
``(1) shall ensure that such functional units, offices, and
boards perform the functions, duties, and coordination assigned
to them under the applicable provision of section 1013 or 1014;
and
``(2) may not reorganize or rename such units, offices, and
boards in a manner not provided for under the applicable
provision of section 1013 or 1014.''.
(b) Duty To Provide Adequate Staffing.--Section 1013(a)(1) of the
Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5493(a)(1)) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(D) Duty to provide adequate staffing.--The
Director shall ensure that the specific functional
units and offices described under subsections (b), (c),
(d), (e), (g), and (h) of section 1013, as well as
other units and offices with supervisory and
enforcement duties, are provided with sufficient staff
to carry out the functions, duties, and coordination of
those units and offices.''.
(c) Limitation on Political Appointees.--Section 1013(a)(1) of the
Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5493(a)(1)) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(D) Limitation on political appointees.--
``(i) In general.--In appointing employees
of the Bureau who are political appointees, the
Director shall ensure that the number and
duties of such political appointees are as
similar as possible to those of the other
Federal primary financial regulatory agencies.
``(ii) Political appointees defined.--For
purposes of this subparagraph, the term
`political appointee' means an employee who
holds--
``(I) a position which has been
excepted from the competitive service
by reason of its confidential, policy-
determining, policy-making, or policy-
advocating character;
``(II) a position in the Senior
Executive Service as a noncareer
appointee (as such term is defined in
section 3132(a) of title 5, United
States Code); or
``(III) a position under the
Executive Schedule (subchapter II of
chapter 53 of title 5, United States
Code).''.
(d) Public Availability of Complaint Information.--
(1) In general.--Section 1013(b)(3) of the Consumer
Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5493(b)(3)) is
amended--
(A) in subparagraph (A)--
(i) by inserting ``publicly available''
before ``website'';
(ii) by inserting ``publicly available''
before ``database'', each place such term
appears; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``The Director shall ensure that the landing
page of the main website of the Bureau contains
a clear and conspicuous hyperlink to the
consumer complaint database described in this
subparagraph and shall ensure that such
database is user-friendly and in plain writing
(as such term is defined in the Plain Writing
Act of 2010). The Director shall ensure that
all information on the website or the database
that explains how to file a complaint with the
Bureau, as well as all reports of the Bureau
with respect to information contained in the
database, shall be provided in each of the 5
most commonly spoken languages, other than
English, in the United States, as determined by
the Bureau of the Census on an ongoing basis,
and in formats accessible to individuals with
hearing or vision impairments.''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(E) Public availability of information.--
``(i) In general.--The Director shall--
``(I) make all consumer complaints
available to the public on a website of
the Bureau;
``(II) place a clear and
conspicuous hyperlink on the landing
page of the main website of the Bureau
to the website described under
subclause (I); and
``(III) ensure that such website--
``(aa) is searchable and
sortable by both consumer
financial product or service
and by covered person; and
``(bb) is user-friendly and
written in plain language.
``(ii) Inclusion of complaints submitted
with inquiries.--For purposes of clause (i), in
addition to all complaints described under
subparagraph (A), consumer complaints shall
include any complaints submitted with, or as
part of, an inquiry described under section
1034.
``(iii) Removal of personally identifiable
information.--In making the information
described under clause (i) available to the
public, the Director shall remove all
personally identifiable information.''.
(2) Rule of construction.--
(A) In general.--The Director of the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau shall ensure--
(i) that the database and website described
under section 1013(b)(3) of the Consumer
Financial Protection Act of 2010 have, at a
minimum, the same availability, transparency,
and functionality that such database and
website had prior to November 24, 2017; and
(ii) that consumers are able, at a minimum,
to submit complaints to the Bureau with respect
to--
(I) any covered person or service
provider; and
(II) any financial product or
service.
(B) Definitions.--For purposes of this paragraph,
the terms ``covered person'', ``financial product or
service'', and ``service provider'' have the meaning
given those terms, respectively, under section 1002 of
the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010.
(e) Memoranda of Understanding.--
(1) Report on current mous.--Not later than the end of the
30-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act,
the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shall
issue a report to the Committee on Financial Services of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing,
and Urban Affairs of the Senate listing--
(A) each memorandum of understanding in effect with
the Bureau on November 24, 2017;
(B) any changes made to such a memorandum of
understanding since such date, including any memorandum
of understanding rescinded since such date; and
(C) a justification for each such change or
rescission.
(2) Semi-annual report on mous.--Section 1016(c) of the
Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5496(c))
is amended--
(A) in paragraph (8), by striking ``and'' at the
end;
(B) in paragraph (9), by striking the period and
inserting a semicolon; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(10) a list of each memorandum of understanding in effect
with the Bureau, any changes made to a memorandum of
understanding since the last report was made under subsection
(b), and a justification for each such change;''.
SEC. 6. OFFICES OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU.
(a) Clarification of the Duties of the Office of Fair Lending and
Equal Opportunity.--Section 1013(c)(2) of the Consumer Financial
Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5493(c)(2)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``Office of Fair Lending and Equal
Opportunity shall have such powers and duties as the Director
may delegate to the Office, including'' and inserting ``powers
and duties of the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity
shall include'';
(2) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(3) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period and
inserting a semicolon; and
(4) by adding at the end the following:
``(E) implementing the Bureau's enforcement and
supervisory authority with respect to fair lending
laws; and
``(F) such additional powers and duties as the
Director may determine appropriate.''.
(b) Office of Students and Young Consumers.--
(1) In general.--Section 1013 of the Consumer Financial
Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5493) is amended--
(A) by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection
(i); and
(B) by inserting after subsection (g) the
following:
``(h) Office of Students and Young Consumers.--
``(1) In general.--The Director shall, not later than the
end of the 60-day period beginning on the date of enactment of
this section, establish an Office of Students and Young
Consumers, which shall work to empower students, young people,
and their families to make more informed financial decisions
about saving and paying for college, accessing safer and more
affordable financial products and services, all matters related
to private education loans (as defined under section 1035(e)),
and repaying student loan debt, including private education
loans.
``(2) Head of the office.--The head of the Office of
Students and Young Consumers shall be the Assistant Director
and Student Loan Ombudsman, and the Assistant Director and
Student Loan Ombudsman shall carry out all functions
established under section 1035 through the Office of Students
and Young Consumers.
``(3) Supervisory, enforcement, and regulatory matters.--
The Office of Students and Young Consumers shall assist in all
supervisory, enforcement, and regulatory matters of the Bureau
related to the functions of the Office.
``(4) Coordination.--The Director shall enter into
memoranda of understanding and similar agreements with the
Department of Education and other Federal and State agencies,
as appropriate, in order to carry out the business of the
Office of Students and Young Consumers.''.
(2) Renaming and appointment clarification of the private
education loan ombudsman.--
(A) In general.--Section 1035 of the Consumer
Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5535) is
amended--
(i) in the heading of the section by
striking ``private education'' and inserting
``assistant director and student'';
(ii) in subsection (a), by striking ``The
Secretary, in consultation with the Director,
shall designate a Private Education Loan
Ombudsman'' and inserting ``The Director shall
designate an individual as the Assistant
Director and Student Loan Ombudsman'';
(iii) in subsection (b), by striking ``The
Secretary and the Director'' and inserting
``The Director''; and
(iv) in subsection (d)(2), by inserting
``the Director,'' before ``the Secretary,''.
(B) Clerical amendment.--The table of contents
under section 1(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform
and Consumer Protection Act is amended, in the item
relating to section 1035, by striking ``PRIVATE
EDUCATION'' and inserting ``ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AND
STUDENT''.
(C) Deeming of name.--Any reference in any law,
regulation, document, record, or other paper of the
United States to the ``Private Education Loan
Ombudsman'' shall be deemed a reference to the
``Assistant Director and Student Loan Ombudsman''.
(c) Semi-Annual Report to Congress on Certain Offices of the
Bureau.--Section 1016(c) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of
2010 (12 U.S.C. 5496(c)), as amended by section 5(e)(3), is further
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(11) with respect to each of the specific functional
units and offices established under section 1013--
``(A) a detailed description of the activities of
the unit or office since the last report was made under
subsection (b); and
``(B) an analysis of the efforts of the Bureau to
achieve the duties of the unit or office; and
``(12) with respect to each specific functional units and
offices established under section 1013, as well as each other
unit and office with supervisory and enforcement duties, a
break down of the number of political and professional career
staff assigned to and employed by each unit or office at the
end of the reporting period.''.
(d) Function of Any Unit or Office Established To Conduct Cost
Benefit Analysis.--Any unit or office established to conduct cost
benefit analysis within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shall,
as its sole function, carry out the considerations required by section
1022(b)(2)(A) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12
U.S.C. 5512(b)(2)(A)).
SEC. 7. CONSUMER ADVISORY BOARD REFORMS.
(a) In General.--Section 1014 of the Consumer Financial Protection
Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5494) is amended--
(1) by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
``(b) Membership.--
``(1) Qualifications.--In appointing the members of the
Consumer Advisory Board, the Director shall--
``(A) seek to assemble a diverse and inclusive
group of experts in consumer protection, financial
services, community development, fair lending and civil
rights, and consumer financial products or services and
representatives of depository institutions that
primarily serve underserved communities, and
representatives of communities that have been
significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgage loans,
and seek representation of the interests of covered
persons and consumers, without regard to party
affiliation; and
``(B) ensure that at least \2/3\ of the members
represent the interests of consumers, including experts
in consumer protection, fair lending, civil rights, and
representatives of communities that have been
significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgage loans
and other products that resulted in consumer harm.
``(2) Number of members.--The Director shall appoint not
fewer than 25 members to the Consumer Advisory Board, and not
fewer than 6 members shall be appointed upon the recommendation
of the regional Federal Reserve Bank Presidents, on a rotating
basis.
``(3) Membership rights after charter change.--Any change
to the charter for the Consumer Advisory Board affecting the
membership shall not preclude prior or current members from
applying for consideration to serve on a reconstituted Consumer
Advisory Board.''; and
(2) in subsection (c)--
(A) by striking ``meet from'' and inserting ``meet
in person from''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following: ``The
Bureau shall provide adequate notice to the members of
the Consumer Advisory Board of the time and date of
each meeting, and of any meeting cancellations.''
(b) Inclusion of the Director in Meetings and Access to Bureau
Staff.--Section 1014 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010
(12 U.S.C. 5494) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(e) Inclusion of the Director in Meetings and Access to Bureau
Staff.--With respect to each in person meeting of the Consumer Advisory
Board--
``(1) the Director shall attend such meeting in person; and
``(2) the Director shall ensure that the members of the
Consumer Advisory Board have an opportunity to meet and engage
in person with all appropriate staff and office of the
Bureau.''.
(c) Treatment of Members of the Consumer Advisory Board.--
Notwithstanding any other law--
(1) any member of the Consumer Advisory Board of the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on November 1, 2017, may
continue to serve as a member of such advisory board until
March 27, 2020, and may not be removed from such position
without cause by the Director of the Bureau until such date;
and
(2) any member of the Consumer Advisory Board of the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on the date of enactment
of this Act, may continue to serve as a member of such advisory
board until March 27, 2020, and may not be removed from such
position without cause by the Director of the Bureau until such
date.
(d) Additional Requirements for Advisory Committees.--Section 1013
of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5493) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(j) Advisory Committee Requirements.--
``(1) Qualifications.--In appointing members of any
advisory committee, other than the Consumer Advisory Board, the
Director shall ensure that at least \1/3\ of the members
represent the interests of consumers, including experts in
consumer protection, fair lending, civil rights, and
representatives of communities that have been significantly
impacted by higher-priced mortgage loans and other products
that resulted in consumer harm.
``(2) Selection of members representing minority-owned and
women-owned businesses.--In appointing members of any advisory
committee, the Director shall seek to promote diversity and
inclusion in making appointments, including by appointing
individuals who represent minority-owned and women-owned
businesses.''.
SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on
the date of the enactment of this Act, except that the Director of the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shall have 30 days to complete any
operational changes to the Bureau required by this Act or an amendment
made by this Act.
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