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The House Financial Services Committee passed a host of NAFCU-backed regulatory relief bills out of committee yesterday following a two-day mark-up that addressed Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) improvements and tailoring of regulations to limit burdens on affected institutions. One approved bill would also raise the CFPB supervision and examination threshold from $10 billion to $50 billion.

"We thank Chairman [Jeb] Hensarling and the committee for recognizing the regulatory burden facing today's credit unions and for advancing legislation that would provide some regulatory relief," said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. "We are pleased to see a number of these bills get bipartisan support and look forward to continuing to work with lawmakers as these bills now await House action."

NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler sent a letter to the committee on Tuesday, urging action on the regulatory relief measures that would help credit unions.

Legislation passed out of committee include the Taking Account of Institutions with Low Operation Risk (TAILOR) Act of 2017 (H.R. 1116), which would ensure that the NCUA, CFPB and other regulators do not use a one-size-fits-all approach to rulemaking, by a vote of 39-21.

The panel also approved the Home Mortgage Disclosure Adjustment Act (H.R. 2954) by a vote of 36-24, which eases the compliance burden for credit unions by exempting depository institutions that have originated fewer than 500 open-end lines of credit and 500 closed-end mortgages in the previous two years from HMDA's reporting and recordkeeping requirement. This bill was cleared under a manager's amendment that aligns the bill with bipartisan legislation pending in the Senate.

Other legislation passed out of committee yesterday include:

• the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Examination and Reporting Threshold Act of 2017 (H.R. 3072) by a vote of 39-21, which would provide relief to credit unions by amending the threshold asset size of institutions subject to CFPB examining and reporting requirements from $10 billion to $50 billion;
• the Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act of 2017 (H.R. 1699) by a vote of 42-18, which would modify the definitions of a mortgage originator and a high-cost mortgage to ensure that consumers of small-balance mortgage loans, including manufactured housing loans, will have access to credit;
• the Privacy Notification Technical Clarification Act (H.R. 2396) by a vote of 40-20, which would make a technical correction to update the exception for certain annual notices provided by financial institutions;
• the Financial Institution Customer Protection Act of 2017 (H.R. 2706) by a vote of 59-1, which would require federal regulators to provide a material reason for ordering financial institutions to terminate account relationships;
• the Senior Safe Act of 2017 (H.R. 3758) by a vote of 60-0, which would improve safeguards for seniors;
• the Protecting Advice for Small Savers Act of 2017 (H.R. 3857) by a vote of 34-26, which would replace the Department of Labor's "fiduciary rule" with a best-interest standard for broker-dealers; and
• the Community Institution Mortgage Relief Act of 2017 (H.R. 3971) by a vote of 41-19, which would amend the Truth in Lending Act to provide a legal safe harbor from escrow requirements for smaller financial institutions, under $25 billion in assets that hold loans in portfolio for three years.

Because of time restrictions, the committee tabled the Protecting Consumers' Access to Credit Act of 2017 (H.R. 3299) for mark-up at a later date. The bill would amend various banking laws, including the Federal Credit Union Act, to provide that federal interest rate preemption applies "regardless of whether the loan is subsequently sold, assigned, or otherwise transferred to a third party," including a non-bank purchaser.

The approved bills now head to the full House for consideration. NAFCU will keep credit unions informed of upcoming votes and their results.