[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5453 Introduced in House (IH)]
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114th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5453
To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to establish an
advisory opinion process for the Bureau of Consumer Financial
Protection, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 10, 2016
Mr. Posey (for himself and Mr. Heck of Washington) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial
Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to establish an
advisory opinion process for the Bureau of Consumer Financial
Protection, and for other purposes.
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 ``Bureau Advisory Opinion Act of
2016''.
SEC. 2. ADVISORY OPINIONS.
Section 1022(b) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010
(12 U.S.C. 5512(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(5) Advisory opinions.--
``(A) Establishing procedures.--
``(i) In general.--The Director shall
establish a procedure and, as necessary,
promulgate rules to provide written opinions in
response to inquiries concerning the
conformance of specific conduct with Federal
consumer financial law. In establishing the
procedure the Director shall consult with the
prudential regulators and such other Federal
departments and agencies as the Director
determines appropriate, and obtain the views of
all interested persons through a public notice
and comment period.
``(ii) Scope of request.--A request for an
opinion under this paragraph must relate to
specific proposed or prospective conduct by a
covered person contemplating the proposed or
prospective conduct.
``(iii) Submission.--A request for an
opinion under this paragraph may be submitted
to the Director either by or on behalf of a
covered person.
``(iv) Right to withdraw inquiry.--Any
inquiry under this paragraph may be withdrawn
at any time prior to the Director issuing an
opinion in response to such inquiry, and any
opinion based on an inquiry that has been
withdrawn shall have no force or effect.
``(B) Issuance of opinions.--
``(i) In general.--The Director shall,
within 90 days of receiving the request for an
opinion under this paragraph, either--
``(I) issue an opinion stating
whether the described conduct would
violate Federal consumer financial law;
``(II) if permissible under clause
(iii), deny the request; or
``(III) explain why it is not
feasible to issue an opinion.
``(ii) Extension.--Notwithstanding clause
(i), if the Director determines that the Bureau
requires additional time to issue an opinion,
the Director may make a single extension of the
deadline of 90 days or less.
``(iii) Denial of requests.--The Director
shall not issue an opinion, and shall so inform
the requestor, if the request for an opinion--
``(I) asks a general question of
interpretation;
``(II) asks about a hypothetical
situation;
``(III) asks about the conduct of
someone other than the covered person
on whose behalf the request is made;
``(IV) asks about past conduct that
the covered person on whose behalf the
request is made does not plan to
continue in the future; or
``(V) fails to provide necessary
supporting information requested by the
Bureau within a reasonable time
established by the Bureau.
``(iv) Amendment and revocation.--An
advisory opinion issued under this paragraph
may be amended or revoked at any time.
``(v) Public disclosure.--An opinion
rendered pursuant to this paragraph shall be
placed in the Bureau's public record 90 days
after the requesting party has received the
advice, subject to any limitations on public
disclosure arising from statutory restrictions,
Bureau regulations, or the public interest. The
Bureau shall redact any personal, confidential,
or identifying information about the covered
person or any other persons mentioned in the
advisory opinion, unless the covered person
consents to such disclosure.
``(vi) Report to congress.--The Bureau
shall, concurrent with the semi-annual report
required under section 1016(b), submit
information regarding the number of requests
for an advisory opinion received, the subject
of each request, the number of requests denied
pursuant to clause (iii), and the time needed
to respond to each request.
``(C) Reliance on opinion.--Any person may rely on
an opinion issued by the Director pursuant to this
paragraph that has not been amended or withdrawn. No
liability under Federal consumer financial law shall
attach to conduct consistent with an advisory opinion
that had not been amended or withdrawn at the time the
conduct was undertaken.
``(D) Confidentiality.--Any document or other
material that is received by the Bureau or any other
Federal department or agency in connection with an
inquiry under this paragraph shall be exempt from
disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States
Code (commonly referred to as the `Freedom of
Information Act') and may not, except with the consent
of the covered person making such inquiry, be made
publicly available, regardless of whether the Director
responds to such inquiry or the covered person
withdraws such inquiry before receiving an opinion.
``(E) Assistance for small businesses.--
``(i) In general.--The Bureau shall assist,
to the maximum extent practicable, small
businesses in preparing inquiries under this
paragraph.
``(ii) Small business defined.--For
purposes of this subparagraph, the term `small
business' has the meaning given the term `small
business concern' under section 3 of the Small
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
``(F) Inquiry fee.--
``(i) In general.--The Director shall
develop a system to charge a fee for each
inquiry made under this paragraph in an amount
sufficient, in the aggregate, to pay for the
cost of carrying out this paragraph.
``(ii) Notice and comment.--Not later than
45 days after the date of the enactment of this
paragraph, the Director shall publish a
description of the fee system described in
clause (i) in the Federal Register and shall
solicit comments from the public for a period
of 60 days after publication.
``(iii) Finalization.--The Director shall
publish a final description of the fee system
and implement such fee system not later than 30
days after the end of the public comment period
described in clause (ii).''.
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