[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 80 (Tuesday, May 14, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3767-H3769]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BUILDING UP INDEPENDENT LIVES AND DREAMS ACT
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 1060) to provide regulatory relief to charitable
organizations that provide housing assistance, and for other purposes,
as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1060
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 ``Building Up Independent
Lives and Dreams Act'' or the ``BUILD Act''.
SEC. 2. MORTGAGE LOAN TRANSACTION DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.
(a) TILA Amendment.--Section 105 of the Truth in Lending
Act (15 U.S.C. 1604) is amended by inserting after subsection
(d) the following:
``(e) Disclosure for Charitable Mortgage Loan
Transactions.--With respect to a mortgage loan transaction
involving a residential mortgage loan offered at 0 percent
interest primarily for charitable purposes by an organization
described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such
Code, forms HUD-1 and GFE (as defined under section 1024.2(b)
of title 12, Code of Federal Regulations) together with a
disclosure substantially in the form of the Loan Model Form
H-2 (as depicted in Appendix H to part 1026 of title 12, Code
of Federal Regulations) shall, collectively, be an
appropriate model form for purposes of subsection (b) of this
section.''.
(b) RESPA Amendment.--Section 4 of the Real Estate
Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (12 U.S.C. 2603) is amended
by adding at the end the following:
``(d) Disclosure for Charitable Mortgage Loan
Transactions.--With respect to a mortgage loan transaction
involving a residential mortgage loan offered at 0 percent
interest primarily for charitable purposes, an organization
described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such
Code may use forms HUD-1 and GFE (as defined under section
1024.2(b) of title 12, Code of Federal Regulations) together
with a disclosure substantially in the form of the Loan Model
Form H-2 (as depicted in Appendix H to part 1026 of title 12,
Code of Federal Regulations), collectively, in lieu of the
disclosure published under subsection (a) of this section.''.
(c) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of
Consumer Financial Protection shall issue such regulations as
may be necessary to implement the amendments made by
subsections (a) and (b).
(d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsections (a)
and (b) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of
this Act.
SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of
complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall
be determined by reference to the latest statement titled
``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act,
submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the
Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such
statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Waters) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Stivers) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.
General Leave
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on
this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from California?
There was no objection.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support H.R. 1060, the BUILD Act, which is
bipartisan legislation authored by Representatives Loudermilk and
Sherman that will allow nonprofit organizations like Habitat for
Humanity, offering mortgage loans for charitable purposes
[[Page H3768]]
to use alternative forms to satisfy disclosure requirements.
Specifically, this bill would allow bona fide nonprofits which are
eligible for tax-exempt charitable donations to have the option to use
the Truth in Lending, Good Faith Estimate, and HUD-1 forms instead of
TRID forms required by the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule. They
may only do so in limited circumstances where they offer a zero percent
interest loan.
Currently, financial institutions that make five or fewer mortgage
loans a year are allowed to use these alternative disclosure forms,
including the HUD-1 form, instead of the TRID form.
This bill simply extends this flexibility to eligible nonprofit
charities in very limited circumstances, even if they make more than
five mortgage loans a year.
Passing this bipartisan legislation will help nonprofits do their
important work in helping families in our communities build and improve
places to call home.
For example, the vast majority of the more than 1,200 local Habitat
organizations in all 50 States are small, community-based organizations
with very small mortgage portfolios and few, if any, full-time staff
and rely on volunteers for much of their operations.
The BUILD Act will help charities like Habitat help families get a
home of their own, but still ensures the material terms and costs of
mortgage loans are clearly disclosed to the borrower.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Representatives Loudermilk and Sherman for their
work on this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1060, the
BUILD Act.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. STIVERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1060, the BUILD Act. This
bipartisan legislation addresses an unintended consequence of the Know
Before You Owe disclosure rule, better known as TRID.
The BUILD Act is a straightforward solution, and it allows bona fide
nonprofits making zero percent interest loans to use whichever Truth in
Lending form they feel is better. They can use the Truth in Lending,
Good Faith Estimate, and the HUD-1 form instead of the TRID forms, or
they can choose the TRID forms.
Currently, organizations making five or fewer mortgage loans are
exempt from using the TRID forms. This extends that exemption to
charities making zero percent interest loans, regardless of how many
loans they make per year.
The costs and complexities associated with TRID have left charities
like Habitat for Humanity struggling to provide mortgages. These
nonprofits have limited resources. In fact, many of their 1,200
community-based affiliates have little or no full-time staff.
Despite their size, these organizations play a pivotal role in our
communities. Today, the House will play a small part in helping them
continue to serve our communities.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues, the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Loudermilk) and the gentleman from California (Mr.
Sherman). They have worked together diligently on this legislation for
several years and should be commended for their efforts.
I want to thank the chairwoman, Ms. Waters of California, for her
efforts on this.
Mr. Speaker, I urge this legislation to be supported, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman), a senior member of the
Financial Services Committee and lead cosponsor of this bill.
Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for yielding time.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Georgia (Mr.
Loudermilk). It has been a pleasure working with him on this bill, the
Building Up Independent Lives and Dreams, or BUILD, Act. He has worked
hard to get this over the goal line and has worked in a collaborative
and bipartisan process.
We have heard from a number of Habitat for Humanity chapters across
the Nation who make more than five loans a year and are having
difficulty complying with the mandatory TILA/RESPA Integrated
Disclosure form. They believe it has additional costs and complexity,
especially when they had previously set up their systems to deal with
the old forms.
The BUILD Act is straightforward and addresses those concerns. The
bill allows a bona fide nonprofit that makes zero interest rate loans,
like Habitat for Humanity, the flexibility in deciding which disclosure
forms to use.
They can either use the relatively new TILA/RESPA Integrated
Disclosure form, or they can use the three previously required forms:
the Truth in Lending form, the Good Faith Estimate form, and the HUD-1
form.
This bill is supported by Habitat for Humanity International and the
National Housing Conference.
It is a narrow tweak to ensure that nonprofits offering zero percent
interest loans can focus on helping people get housing rather than
focus on reprogramming their system to deal with the new TILA/RESPA
Integrated Disclosure form.
This bill passed our committee 53 to 0 last year. It passed this
House by voice vote last year. It went over to the Senate, where the
Senate did what it all too frequently does, which is nothing.
I look forward to giving the Senate another opportunity by sending
this bill back to them, since it has not only overwhelming but
unanimous support here in the House of Representatives.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill.
Mr. STIVERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Loudermilk). He is not only an Air Force
veteran, but his wife came up with the acronym for this bill.
{time} 1730
Mr. LOUDERMILK. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Stivers) not only for yielding time in support of my bill but giving
the creative one in my family recognition for the pithy acronym that
goes with this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, as has been stated, my bill is the Building Up
Independent Lives and Dreams Act, which is also known as the BUILD Act.
First, I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have
worked with me to make this a strong, bipartisan effort.
I appreciate the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman) for
cosponsoring this bill and for his work, with our staffs working
together, to make this is a bill as perfected as we can.
I thank Chairwoman Waters and Ranking Member McHenry for recommending
this bill to come to the floor for a vote.
I also thank the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez) for her
support and cosponsorship of this important legislation.
Last year, it was brought to my attention that certain regulations
enacted by Dodd-Frank were placing a significant burden on charitable
organizations that provide low-cost housing to needy families. These
nonprofits were having to spend an excessive amount of time and
resources complying with these new regulations, which were ultimately
designed for large mortgage lenders.
The time and effort that they were spending on regulatory compliance
was taking resources away from these nonprofits' core mission of
providing affordable housing.
The problem, as I learned, was that the Dodd-Frank Act required the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to combine the TILA loan estimate
and the RESPA closing disclosure forms into one integrated mortgage
disclosure form called TRID.
While the intention of the new TRID forms was to ensure that home
buyers received essential information about the costs and terms of
their home loans, the unintended consequences of this one-size-fits-all
approach significantly impacted nonprofit organizations, such as
Habitat for Humanity.
The TRID rule is nearly 2,000 pages long, very complex, and includes
disclosure forms for things such as balloon loans and adjustable rate
mortgages. While these types of loans may be applicable to traditional
mortgage lenders, they are not relevant to these nonprofits. These new
rules and their associated forms have caused confusion
[[Page H3769]]
for home buyers, staff, and volunteers of these charitable
organizations.
To further complicate the matter, the new TRID disclosures were
designed to be completed by computer software. However, these software
applications are much too costly for many local Habitat affiliates and
other nonprofits.
The vast majority of more than 1,200 Habitat groups nationwide are
small, community-based organizations with very small mortgage
portfolios. Few, if any, have full-time staff. These organizations have
experienced challenges with the costs and the complexity of the TRID
mortgage disclosure forms.
To remedy these problems, and to provide regulatory relief to these
nonprofits, the BUILD Act exempts charities from the cost and
complexity of the new TRID rule but still ensures that the terms of
these mortgage loans are disclosed.
Mortgage lenders that make five or fewer loans a year are already
exempt from TRID and are allowed to use the much simpler forms that
were in place prior to Dodd-Frank. The BUILD Act simply extends this
same exemption to nonprofits that are eligible for tax-exempt
charitable donations and are making zero-interest mortgage loans,
regardless of how many mortgage loans they are making per year.
The BUILD Act will allow local Habitat facilities, and other similar
nonprofits, to choose whether they use these older but simpler forms or
the new, more complicated TRID forms.
In closing, I want to reiterate that the purpose of this bill is to
help charitable organizations spend more time fulfilling their mission,
which is providing low-cost housing to needy families, and less time
sitting in an office doing regulatory paperwork.
The bill recognizes that one size does not fit all, especially when
it comes to regulating these charities, and it gives them the
flexibility to choose which mortgage disclosure forms work best for
them and for those they help.
As my colleague Mr. Sherman has already brought up, this bill passed
the Financial Services Committee and the House unanimously last
Congress. I hope that we can repeat that again today here in a few
moments.
I urge all of my colleagues to join me in support of this important
bill.
Mr. STIVERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I would close by saying that the gentleman from Georgia and the
gentleman from California have worked very hard on a bill that passed
our committee unanimously and that helps nonprofits accomplish their
mission of building capacity in housing, and I urge adoption.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate my thanks to the members of our
committee, Representatives Loudermilk and Sherman, for working together
to craft a narrow piece of legislation that will help nonprofit
organizations like Habitat for Humanity have flexibility on which
disclosure forms they use when they provide a zero-interest mortgage
loan to a family getting a home of their own.
I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1060, the BUILD Act, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1060, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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