| 1 | 1 | | 89R20924 TBO-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Parker S.C.R. No. 44 |
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| 6 | 6 | | |
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| 7 | 7 | | CONCURRENT RESOLUTION |
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| 8 | 8 | | WHEREAS, President Donald Trump, U.S. Senate Banking |
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| 9 | 9 | | Committee Chair Tim Scott, and U.S. House Financial Services |
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| 10 | 10 | | Committee Chair French Hill are working to stop federal regulators |
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| 11 | 11 | | from leveraging their authority to pressure banks to debank |
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| 12 | 12 | | individuals and businesses; and |
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| 13 | 13 | | WHEREAS, Banks are required by regulators to manage risk, to |
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| 14 | 14 | | know their customers, and to help detect and deter financial |
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| 15 | 15 | | crimes, including money laundering, drug trafficking, human |
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| 16 | 16 | | trafficking, and terrorism financing; they are also tasked with |
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| 17 | 17 | | filing suspicious activity reports for certain transactions and |
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| 18 | 18 | | prohibited from disclosing those reports to customers; and |
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| 19 | 19 | | WHEREAS, If a regulator determines that a bank is failing to |
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| 20 | 20 | | sufficiently manage risk, implement an adequate system to detect |
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| 21 | 21 | | and deter financial crimes, or promptly close accounts, the bank |
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| 22 | 22 | | can face significant monetary penalties, costly lawsuits, and in |
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| 23 | 23 | | some case, criminal charges; this regulatory environment allows |
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| 24 | 24 | | regulators to put intense pressure on banks, resulting in financial |
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| 25 | 25 | | institutions reevaluating or even severing their relationships |
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| 26 | 26 | | with businesses and individuals; and |
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| 27 | 27 | | WHEREAS, Examples of regulators unfairly taking advantage of |
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| 28 | 28 | | their leverage over banks include Operation Choke Point in 2013, |
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| 29 | 29 | | when several high-ranking bureaucrats attempted to pressure banks |
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| 30 | 30 | | to stop doing business with ammunition and gun sellers, payday |
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| 31 | 31 | | lenders, and other industries, and Operation Choke Point 2.0 in |
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| 32 | 32 | | 2022, when the FDIC sent letters to banks that called for a pause on |
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| 33 | 33 | | bank-crypto activity; and |
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| 34 | 34 | | WHEREAS, Numerous banks have been negatively impacted by |
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| 35 | 35 | | agencies with broad discretion to enforce complex federal laws and |
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| 36 | 36 | | regulations, and more must be done to prevent further harm; now, |
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| 37 | 37 | | therefore, be it |
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| 38 | 38 | | RESOLVED, That the 89th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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| 39 | 39 | | hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress and the Trump |
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| 40 | 40 | | Administration to modernize anti-money laundering laws to better |
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| 41 | 41 | | focus banks and law enforcement on potential financial criminal |
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| 42 | 42 | | activity rather than the innocent banking activity of law-abiding |
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| 43 | 43 | | customers; and, be it further |
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| 44 | 44 | | RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature express support for |
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| 45 | 45 | | increased transparency and accountability for regulators and bank |
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| 46 | 46 | | examiners to better balance legitimate concerns relating to |
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| 47 | 47 | | anti-money laundering laws while mitigating impacts to the ability |
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| 48 | 48 | | of law-abiding citizens to access financial services; and, be it |
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| 49 | 49 | | further |
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| 50 | 50 | | RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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| 51 | 51 | | copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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| 52 | 52 | | the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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| 53 | 53 | | Representatives of the United States Congress, and to the appointed |
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| 54 | 54 | | officials leading the Federal Reserve, the Office of the |
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| 55 | 55 | | Comptroller of the Currency, and the FDIC. |
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