[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 114 (Monday, August 15, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 15, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BANKING ACT--H.R. 3474

 Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I strongly support H.R. 3474, the 
Community Development Banking Act. This conference bill reflects a true 
bipartisan compromise on legislation that addresses a number of key 
issues important to the American public and American businesses. The 
bill includes significant provisions intended to enhance the 
development of community development banking and small business capital 
formation, provisions designed to reduce bank paperwork requirements 
and provide bank regulatory relief, provisions to reform money 
laundering statutes, and provisions to reform the National Flood 
Insurance Program.
  All titles of the bill merit support in my view. The community 
development bank provisions in title I of the legislation focus on 
helping to revitalize our distressed communities through the infusion 
of capital. These provisions also recognize the important contributions 
that traditional financial institutions can provide to distressed 
communities by allowing banks and other entities to form community 
partnerships with community development financial institutions.
  Title II of the legislation is designed to increase the ability of 
small businesses to access capital by removing existing impediments to 
the securitization of small business loans. Small business is the 
backbone of our Nation's economy and part of the American dream. It is 
high time that we take steps to ensure the availability of credit to 
these businesses. I hope that these provisions will help create new 
jobs and stimulate economic growth.
  Title III of the bill provides a number of important provisions 
intended to reduce paperwork and regulatory burden on financial 
institutions through measures which require the bank regulatory 
agencies to streamline rules and regulations, coordinate examinations, 
modernize reporting, and establish a regulatory appeals process. These 
provisions are a critical first step and I trust that we will be able 
to continue to address unnecessary regulatory burden on banks in future 
bills and in the next Congress.
  Title IV of the legislation makes a number of reforms and changes to 
existing laws regarding money laundering. These provisions should 
reduce the regulatory burden on financial institutions while providing 
better safeguards against money laundering schemes.
  Title V of the bill provides a number of comprehensive reforms to the 
National Flood Insurance Program. I have been deeply involved in the 
development of this legislation and consider its enactment critical. In 
particular, two of the largest rivers in the world run through 
Missouri, and the State also claims a number of major tributaries. 
Because of the tragic flooding of 1993, it should be clear to everyone 
that for Missouri to continue to prosper, our citizens must be able to 
insure against the possibility and, in a few cases, even the 
probability, of flooding. Currently, almost 15,000 Missouri policies 
provide more than $760 million in flood insurance coverage for homes 
and businesses.
  The key elements of the flood insurance reform legislation include 
strict requirements to ensure the placement of flood insurance on 
properties in flood-prone areas; an increase in flood insurance 
coverage; the establishment of a community rating system to provide 
premium rate credits for communities that implement land use and loss 
control measures that exceed minimum criteria; and the establishment of 
new programs for mitigation assistance.
  I, however, do want to make it clear that the National Flood 
Insurance Program is not intended to provide the Federal Government 
with a backdoor for implementing environmental policies by overriding 
local land use control and decisionmaking. In particular, the bill 
conferees specifically removed a House provision that would have 
established an environmental purpose for the National Flood Insurance 
Program. Again, I emphasize that the Federal Government should defer, 
whenever possible, to State and local land use decisionmaking.

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