Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB940 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 940
55 To amend the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Act of
66 1978 to improve the examination of depository institutions, and for
77 other purposes.
88 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
99 FEBRUARY4, 2025
1010 Mr. H
1111 ILLof Arkansas (for himself, Mr. MEUSER, Mrs. WAGNER, Mr.
1212 H
1313 UIZENGA, Mr. TIMMONS, Mr. MOOREof North Carolina, and Mr. WIL-
1414 LIAMSof Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
1515 Committee on Financial Services
1616 A BILL
1717 To amend the Federal Financial Institutions Examination
1818 Council Act of 1978 to improve the examination of de-
1919 pository institutions, and for other purposes.
2020 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2121 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2222 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2323 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Audits and In-4
2424 spections for Regulators’ Exams Act’’ or the ‘‘FAIR 5
2525 Exams Act’’. 6
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2929 SEC. 2. TIMELINESS OF EXAMINATION REPORTS. 1
3030 The Federal Financial Institutions Examination 2
3131 Council Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.) is amended 3
3232 by adding at the end the following: 4
3333 ‘‘SEC. 1012. TIMELINESS OF EXAMINATION REPORTS. 5
3434 ‘‘(a) I
3535 NGENERAL.— 6
3636 ‘‘(1) F
3737 INAL EXAMINATION REPORT .—A Federal 7
3838 financial institutions regulatory agency shall provide 8
3939 a final examination report to a financial institution 9
4040 not later than 60 days after the later of— 10
4141 ‘‘(A) the exit interview for an examination 11
4242 of the institution; or 12
4343 ‘‘(B) the provision of additional material 13
4444 information by the institution relating to the 14
4545 examination. 15
4646 ‘‘(2) E
4747 XIT INTERVIEW.—If a financial institu-16
4848 tion is not subject to a resident examiner program, 17
4949 the exit interview shall occur not later than the end 18
5050 of the 9-month period beginning on the commence-19
5151 ment of the examination, except that such period 20
5252 may be extended by the Federal financial institu-21
5353 tions regulatory agency by providing written notice 22
5454 to the institution and the Director describing with 23
5555 particularity the reasons that a longer period is 24
5656 needed to complete the examination. 25
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6060 ‘‘(b) EXAMINATIONMATERIALS.—Upon the request 1
6161 of a financial institution, the Federal financial institutions 2
6262 regulatory agency shall include with the final report an 3
6363 appendix listing all examination or other factual informa-4
6464 tion relied upon by the agency in support of a material 5
6565 supervisory determination.’’. 6
6666 SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT EXAMINATION REVIEW DIRECTOR. 7
6767 (a) I
6868 NGENERAL.—The Federal Financial Institu-8
6969 tions Examination Council Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3301 9
7070 et seq.), as amended by section 2 of this Act, is further 10
7171 amended by adding at the end the following: 11
7272 ‘‘SEC. 1013. OFFICE OF INDEPENDENT EXAMINATION RE-12
7373 VIEW. 13
7474 ‘‘(a) E
7575 STABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 14
7676 Council an Office of Independent Examination Review. 15
7777 ‘‘(b) H
7878 EAD OFOFFICE.—There is established the po-16
7979 sition of the Independent Examination Review Director, 17
8080 as the head of the Office of Independent Examination Re-18
8181 view. The Director shall be appointed by the President, 19
8282 by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. 20
8383 ‘‘(c) S
8484 TAFFING.—The Director is authorized to hire 21
8585 staff to support the activities of the Office of Independent 22
8686 Examination Review. One-fifth of the costs and expenses 23
8787 of the Office, including the salaries of its employees, shall 24
8888 be paid by each of the Federal financial institutions regu-25
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9292 latory agencies. Annual assessments for such share shall 1
9393 be levied by the Council based upon its projected budget 2
9494 for the year, and additional assessments may be made dur-3
9595 ing the year if necessary. 4
9696 ‘‘(d) D
9797 UTIES.—The Director shall— 5
9898 ‘‘(1) receive and, at the discretion of the Direc-6
9999 tor, investigate complaints from financial institu-7
100100 tions, their representatives, or another entity acting 8
101101 on behalf of such institutions, concerning examina-9
102102 tions, examination practices, or examination reports; 10
103103 ‘‘(2) hold meetings, at least once every three 11
104104 months and in locations designed to encourage par-12
105105 ticipation from all sections of the United States, 13
106106 with financial institutions, their representatives, or 14
107107 another entity acting on behalf of such institutions, 15
108108 to discuss examination procedures, examination 16
109109 practices, or examination policies; 17
110110 ‘‘(3) review examination procedures of the Fed-18
111111 eral financial institutions regulatory agencies to en-19
112112 sure that the written examination policies of those 20
113113 agencies are being followed in practice and adhere to 21
114114 the standards for consistency, which shall be estab-22
115115 lished, after notice and opportunity for comment, by 23
116116 the Council not later than 90 days after the date of 24
117117 enactment of this section; 25
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121121 ‘‘(4) conduct a continuing and regular program 1
122122 of examination quality assurance for all examination 2
123123 types conducted by the Federal financial institutions 3
124124 regulatory agencies; 4
125125 ‘‘(5) carry out an independent review of any su-5
126126 pervisory appeal initiated under section 1014; and 6
127127 ‘‘(6) report annually to the Committee on Fi-7
128128 nancial Services of the House of Representatives, the 8
129129 Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 9
130130 of the Senate, and the Council, on the reviews car-10
131131 ried out pursuant to paragraphs (3) and (5), includ-11
132132 ing compliance with the requirements set forth in 12
133133 section 1012 regarding timeliness of examination re-13
134134 ports, and the Council’s recommendations for im-14
135135 provements in examination procedures, practices, 15
136136 and policies. 16
137137 ‘‘(e) C
138138 ONFIDENTIALITY.—The Director shall keep 17
139139 confidential all meetings, discussions, and information 18
140140 provided by financial institutions. The Council shall keep 19
141141 confidential all information and communications ex-20
142142 changed by a financial institution and the Office of Inde-21
143143 pendent Examination Review.’’. 22
144144 (b) D
145145 EFINITION.—Section 1003 of the Federal Fi-23
146146 nancial Institutions Examination Council Act of 1978 (12 24
147147 U.S.C. 3302) is amended— 25
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151151 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 1
152152 end; 2
153153 (2) in paragraph (3), by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 3
154154 end; and 4
155155 (3) by adding at the end the following: 5
156156 ‘‘(4) the term ‘Director’ means the Independent 6
157157 Examination Review Director established under sec-7
158158 tion 1013(b).’’. 8
159159 SEC. 4. RIGHT TO INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF MATERIAL SU-9
160160 PERVISORY DETERMINATIONS. 10
161161 The Federal Financial Institutions Examination 11
162162 Council Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.), as amended 12
163163 by sections 2 and 3 of this Act, is further amended by 13
164164 adding at the end the following: 14
165165 ‘‘SEC. 1014. RIGHT TO INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF MATERIAL 15
166166 SUPERVISORY DETERMINATIONS. 16
167167 ‘‘(a) I
168168 NGENERAL.—A financial institution shall have 17
169169 the right to obtain an independent review of a material 18
170170 supervisory determination contained in a final report of 19
171171 examination. 20
172172 ‘‘(b) N
173173 OTICE.— 21
174174 ‘‘(1) T
175175 IMING.—A financial institution seeking 22
176176 review of a material supervisory determination under 23
177177 this section shall file a written notice with the Direc-24
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181181 tor within 60 days after receiving the final report of 1
182182 examination that is the subject of such review. 2
183183 ‘‘(2) I
184184 DENTIFICATION OF DETERMINATION .— 3
185185 The written notice shall identify the material super-4
186186 visory determination that is the subject of the inde-5
187187 pendent examination review, and a statement of the 6
188188 reasons why the institution believes that the deter-7
189189 mination is incorrect or should otherwise be modi-8
190190 fied. 9
191191 ‘‘(3) I
192192 NFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED TO INSTI -10
193193 TUTION.—Any information relied upon by the agen-11
194194 cy in the final report that is not in the possession 12
195195 of the financial institution may be requested by the 13
196196 financial institution and shall be delivered promptly 14
197197 by the agency to the financial institution. 15
198198 ‘‘(c) R
199199 IGHT TOHEARING.— 16
200200 ‘‘(1) I
201201 N GENERAL.—The Director shall— 17
202202 ‘‘(A) determine the merits of the appeal on 18
203203 the record; or 19
204204 ‘‘(B) at the election of the financial institu-20
205205 tion, refer the appeal to an administrative law 21
206206 judge appointed by the Director to conduct a 22
207207 hearing pursuant to the procedures set forth 23
208208 under sections 556 and 557 of title 5, United 24
209209 States Code, which shall take place not later 25
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213213 than 60 days after the petition for review is re-1
214214 ceived by the Director. 2
215215 ‘‘(2) T
216216 IMING OF DECISION.—An administrative 3
217217 law judge conducting a hearing under paragraph 4
218218 (1)(B) shall issue a proposed decision to the Direc-5
219219 tor based upon the record established at the hearing. 6
220220 ‘‘(3) S
221221 TANDARD OF REVIEW .—In any hearing 7
222222 under this subsection, neither the administrative law 8
223223 judge nor the Director shall defer to the opinions of 9
224224 the examiner or agency, but shall independently de-10
225225 termine the appropriateness of the agency’s decision 11
226226 based upon the relevant statutes, regulations, other 12
227227 appropriate guidance, and evidence presented at the 13
228228 hearing. 14
229229 ‘‘(d) F
230230 INALRECOMMENDATION .—With respect to an 15
231231 independent review under this section, the Director shall 16
232232 make a final recommendation to the head of the agency 17
233233 whose supervisory determination was the subject of the re-18
234234 view not later than 60 days after the record has been 19
235235 closed. 20
236236 ‘‘(e) F
237237 INALAGENCYDETERMINATION.—Upon re-21
238238 ceipt of a final recommendation of the Director under sub-22
239239 section (d), the head of an agency shall make a final deter-23
240240 mination of the agency with respect to the material super-24
241241 visory determination not later than the 60 days after re-25
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245245 ceiving the recommendation of the Director. In making 1
246246 such final determination, the head of the agency shall give 2
247247 deference to the recommendation of the Director. 3
248248 ‘‘(f) R
249249 IGHT TOJUDICIALREVIEW.—A financial insti-4
250250 tution shall have the right to petition for review of a final 5
251251 agency determination made under subsection (e) by filing 6
252252 a petition for review not later than 60 days after the date 7
253253 on which the decision is made in the United States Court 8
254254 of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit or the Cir-9
255255 cuit in which the financial institution is located. 10
256256 ‘‘(g) R
257257 EPORT.—The Director shall report annually to 11
258258 the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Rep-12
259259 resentatives, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 13
260260 Urban Affairs of the Senate, and the Council on actions 14
261261 taken under this section, including the types of issues that 15
262262 the Director has reviewed and the results of those reviews. 16
263263 In no case shall such a report contain information about 17
264264 individual financial institutions or any confidential or priv-18
265265 ileged information shared by financial institutions. 19
266266 ‘‘(h) R
267267 ETALIATIONPROHIBITED.— 20
268268 ‘‘(1) I
269269 N GENERAL.—A Federal financial institu-21
270270 tions regulatory agency may not— 22
271271 ‘‘(A) retaliate against a financial institu-23
272272 tion, including service providers, or any institu-24
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276276 tion-affiliated party, for exercising appellate 1
277277 rights under this section; or 2
278278 ‘‘(B) delay or deny any agency action that 3
279279 would benefit a financial institution or any in-4
280280 stitution-affiliated party on the basis that an 5
281281 appeal under this section is pending under this 6
282282 section. 7
283283 ‘‘(2) R
284284 ETALIATION.—For purposes of this sub-8
285285 section, retaliation includes delaying consideration 9
286286 of, or withholding approval of, any request, notice, 10
287287 or application that otherwise would have been ap-11
288288 proved, but for the exercise of a financial institu-12
289289 tion’s rights under this section.’’. 13
290290 SEC. 5. ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS. 14
291291 (a) R
292292 EGULATORAPPEALSPROCESS, OMBUDSMAN, 15
293293 ANDALTERNATIVEDISPUTERESOLUTION.— 16
294294 (1) I
295295 N GENERAL.—Section 309 of the Riegle 17
296296 Community Development and Regulatory Improve-18
297297 ment Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4806) is amended— 19
298298 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘
299299 REGU-20
300300 LATORY APPEALS PROCESS , OMBUDS-21
301301 MAN,’’ and inserting ‘‘OMBUDSMAN ’’; 22
302302 (B) by striking subsections (a), (b), and 23
303303 (c); 24
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307307 (C) by redesignating subsections (d), (e), 1
308308 (f), and (g) as subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d), 2
309309 respectively; and 3
310310 (D) in subsection (b), as so redesignated— 4
311311 (i) in paragraph (2)— 5
312312 (I) in subparagraph (B), by 6
313313 striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7
314314 (II) in subparagraph (C), by 8
315315 striking the period and inserting ‘‘; 9
316316 and’’; and 10
317317 (III) by adding at the end the 11
318318 following: 12
319319 ‘‘(D) ensure that appropriate safeguards 13
320320 exist for protecting any party from retaliation 14
321321 by any agency for exercising rights under this 15
322322 subsection.’’; and 16
323323 (ii) by adding at the end the fol-17
324324 lowing: 18
325325 ‘‘(6) R
326326 ETALIATION.—For purposes of this sub-19
327327 section, retaliation includes delaying consideration 20
328328 of, or withholding approval of, any request, notice, 21
329329 or application that otherwise would have been ap-22
330330 proved, but for the exercise of a financial institu-23
331331 tion’s rights under this section.’’. 24
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335335 (E) in paragraph (1)(A) of subsection (c), 1
336336 as so redesignated— 2
337337 (i) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 3
338338 and inserting a semicolon; 4
339339 (ii) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 5
340340 and inserting a semicolon; and 6
341341 (iii) by adding at the end the fol-7
342342 lowing: 8
343343 ‘‘(iv) any issue specifically listed in an 9
344344 exam report as a matter requiring atten-10
345345 tion by the institution’s management or 11
346346 board of directors; and 12
347347 ‘‘(v) any suspension or removal of an 13
348348 institution’s status as eligible for expedited 14
349349 processing of applications, requests, no-15
350350 tices, or filings on the grounds of a super-16
351351 visory or compliance concern, regardless of 17
352352 whether that concern has been cited as a 18
353353 basis for a material supervisory determina-19
354354 tion or matter requiring attention in an ex-20
355355 amination report, provided that the con-21
356356 duct at issue did not involve violation of 22
357357 any criminal law; and’’. 23
358358 (2) E
359359 FFECT.—Nothing in this subsection af-24
360360 fects the authority of an appropriate Federal bank-25
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364364 ing agency or the National Credit Union Adminis-1
365365 tration Board to take enforcement or other super-2
366366 visory action. 3
367367 (b) F
368368 EDERALCREDITUNIONACT.—Section 205(j) 4
369369 of the Federal Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1785(j)) is 5
370370 amended by inserting ‘‘the Bureau of Consumer Financial 6
371371 Protection,’’ before ‘‘the Administration’’ each place that 7
372372 term appears. 8
373373 (c) F
374374 EDERALFINANCIALINSTITUTIONSEXAMINA-9
375375 TIONCOUNCILACT.—The Federal Financial Institutions 10
376376 Examination Council Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3301 et 11
377377 seq.), as amended by sections 2 through 4 of this Act, 12
378378 is further amended— 13
379379 (1) in section 1003 (12 U.S.C. 3302) by strik-14
380380 ing paragraph (1) and inserting the following: 15
381381 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Federal financial institutions 16
382382 regulatory agencies’— 17
383383 ‘‘(A) means the Office of the Comptroller 18
384384 of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the 19
385385 Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit 20
386386 Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit 21
387387 Union Administration; and 22
388388 ‘‘(B) includes the Bureau of Consumer Fi-23
389389 nancial Protection for purposes of sections 24
390390 1012 through 1014;’’; 25
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394394 (2) in section 1004(a)(4) (12 U.S.C. 3303), by 1
395395 striking ‘‘Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’’ 2
396396 and inserting ‘‘Bureau of Consumer Financial Pro-3
397397 tection’’; and 4
398398 (3) in section 1005 (12 U.S.C. 3304)— 5
399399 (A) by striking ‘‘One-fifth’’ and inserting 6
400400 ‘‘One-fourth’’; and 7
401401 (B) by inserting ‘‘described under section 8
402402 1003(1)(A)’’ after ‘‘agencies’’. 9
403403 Æ
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