[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9646-9647]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               EXPEDITED FUNDS AVAILABILITY ACT AMENDMENT

  Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and pass the bill (H.R. 1679) to amend the Expedited Funds Availability 
Act to clarify the application of that Act to American Samoa, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1679

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. APPLICATION OF THE EXPEDITED FUNDS AVAILABILITY 
                   ACT.

       (a) In General.--The Expedited Funds Availability Act (12 
     U.S.C. 4001 et seq.) is amended--
       (1) in section 602(20) (12 U.S.C. 4001(20)) by inserting 
     ``, located in the United States,'' after ``ATM'';
       (2) in section 602(21) (12 U.S.C. 4001(21)) by inserting 
     ``American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
     Islands,'' after ``Puerto Rico,'';
       (3) in section 602(23) (12 U.S.C. 4001(23)) by inserting 
     ``American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
     Islands,'' after ``Puerto Rico,''; and
       (4) in section 603(d)(2)(A) (12 U.S.C. 4002(d)(2)(A)), by 
     inserting ``American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern 
     Mariana Islands,'' after ``Puerto Rico,''.
       (b) Effective Date.--This Act shall take effect on January 
     1, 2016.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Huizenga) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. David 
Scott) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.


                             General Leave

  Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and submit extraneous materials in the Record on H.R. 
1679, as amended, currently under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to also thank my colleague, Delegate 
Faleomavaega, for introducing this bill. This bill makes a technical 
change to clarify that the Expedited Funds Availability Act applies to 
banks located in American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, as 
well as the other 50 States and contiguous States. It was an 
inadvertent error that these territories were not included in this act. 
This legislation remedies this error.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  Our Financial Services Committee simply amends the Expedited Funds 
Availability Act to apply it to American Samoa. Essentially, it does 
just these few things. It extends by 2 business days for American Samoa 
any time periods established for large or redeposited checks, repeated 
overdraft, reasonable cause, or other emergency exceptions to the 30-
day funds availability requirements for deposits in a depository 
institution account by a new depositor.
  It also applies this 2-day extension to any deposit in an account at 
a depository institution located in American Samoa by a check drawn on 
an originating depository institution which is not located in the same 
State as the receiving depository institution.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to the distinguished 
gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) who has worked 
tirelessly on this effort and deserves so much credit for his sterling 
leadership.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 
1679, as amended, a bill to amend the Expedited Funds Availability Act 
to clarify the application of that act to American Samoa and to the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
  Mr. Speaker, this has been a bipartisan effort, and I want to thank 
Chairman Jeb Hensarling and Ranking Member Maxine Waters of the 
Committee on Financial Services for bringing this legislation on the 
floor today. I also want to thank my good friend, Congressman Kilili 
Sablan, for his support of this bill. And I would be remiss if I did 
not also express my appreciation to the subcommittee chairman of our 
Financial Services Committee, Congresswoman Shelley Capito, and Ranking 
Member Gregory Meeks for their efforts in supporting this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation is important because it will not only 
improve the current banking system in both territories, but it will 
also allow our constituents quicker access to their funds.
  I introduced this legislation last year because one of our only two 
banks in

[[Page 9647]]

the territory was scheduled to close all of its branches for good. In 
working together with Governor Lolo and many stakeholders in delaying 
the bank's departure, we learned that there was a systematic delay in 
access to funds for bank customers in American Samoa.
  H.R. 1679 will fix this delay and will put American Samoa and the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in line with the schedule 
of availability of funds that are already required of banks in all 
States and other territories under regulation CC.
  Under regulation CC, banks in the U.S. mainland and certain 
territories are required to make funds available for consumer use for 
in-State checks no later than the second business day after the check 
is deposited. Out-of-State checks can be held up to 5 business days 
before funds can be released. Banks in Hawaii, Alaska, the U.S. Virgin 
Islands, and Puerto Rico may, at their discretion, hold out-of-State 
checks for an extra day.
  This is not the same for American Samoa. Checks can be held for an 
intermittent and undetermined amount of time, even up to 21 days, 
before funds are available for the consumer to have access. This is 
unfair for my constituents and has a direct and indirect impact on our 
local economy.
  For the record, I do not hold the banks at fault, but given the trend 
of electronic banking and quicker access to mailing services, I feel 
that they are able to provide quicker and better services for their 
customers.
  Again, I thank Chairman Hensarling, Ranking Member Waters, and their 
staff for their work on this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to 
support this bill.
  Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of 
my time.
  Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, with that, I would just like, 
again, to congratulate Delegate Faleomavaega for his leadership on 
this, and I am glad that we could get this done. With that, I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Huizenga) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 1679, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title was amended so as to read: ``A bill to amend the Expedited 
Funds Availability Act to clarify the application of that Act to 
American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands''.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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