[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4801 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4801

  To provide that all persons shall be entitled to the full and equal 
     enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, and 
               accommodations of financial institutions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 19, 2020

   Mr. Brown (for himself, Ms. Smith, Mr. Booker, Mr. Menendez, Ms. 
 Warren, and Mr. Van Hollen) introduced the following bill; which was 
read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide that all persons shall be entitled to the full and equal 
     enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, and 
               accommodations of financial institutions.

    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 ``Fair Access to Financial Services 
Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.

    (a) In General.--All persons shall be entitled to the full and 
equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, and 
accommodations of any financial institution, as defined in section 803 
of the Payment, Clearing, and Settlement Supervision Act of 2010 (12 
U.S.C. 5462), without discrimination on the ground of race, color, 
religion, national origin, and sex (including sexual orientation and 
gender identity).
    (b) Private Right of Action.--
            (1) In general.--Whenever any person has engaged or there 
        are reasonable grounds to believe that any person is about to 
        engage in any act or practice prohibited by subsection (a), a 
        civil action for preventive relief, including an application 
        for a permanent or temporary injunction, restraining order, or 
        other order, may be instituted by the person aggrieved.
            (2) Costs.--In any action commenced pursuant to this 
        section, the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing 
        party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney's 
        fee as part of the costs, and the United States shall be liable 
        for costs the same as a private person.
            (3) Jurisdiction.--The district courts of the United States 
        shall have jurisdiction of proceedings instituted pursuant to 
        this section and shall exercise the same without regard to 
        whether the aggrieved party shall have exhausted any 
        administrative or other remedies that may be provided by law.
            (4) Exclusive means.--The remedies provided in this 
        subsection shall be the exclusive means of enforcing the rights 
        based on this section, but nothing in this section shall 
        preclude any individual or any State or local agency from 
        asserting any right based on any other Federal or State law not 
        inconsistent with this section, including any statute or 
        ordinance requiring nondiscrimination in goods, services, 
        facilities, privileges, and accommodations of any financial 
        institution, or from pursuing any remedy, civil or criminal, 
        which may be available for the vindication or enforcement of 
        such right.
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