Ensuring Diverse Leadership Act of 2019

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 281 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 11, 2019 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs AN ACT To amend the Federal Reserve Act to require Federal Re- serve banks to interview at least one individual reflective of gender diversity and one individual reflective of racial or ethnic diversity when appointing Federal Reserve bank presidents, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.RFS H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 281 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Diverse 2 Leadership Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 4 The Congress finds that— 5 (1) while significant progress has occurred due 6 to the antidiscrimination amendments to the Federal 7 Reserve Act, barriers continue to pose significant ob- 8 stacles for candidates reflective of gender diversity 9 and racial or ethnic diversity for Federal Reserve 10 bank president positions in the Federal Reserve Sys- 11 tem; 12 (2) the continuing barriers described in para- 13 graph (1) merit the following amendment; 14 (3) Congress has received and reviewed testi- 15 mony and documentation of the historical lack of 16 gender, racial, and ethnic diversity from numerous 17 sources, including congressional hearings, scientific 18 reports, reports issued by public and private agen- 19 cies, news stories, and reports of related barriers by 20 organizations and individuals, which show that 21 race-, ethnicity-, and gender-neutral efforts alone are 22 insufficient to address the problem; 23 (4) the testimony and documentation described 24 in paragraph (3) demonstrate that barriers across 25 the United States prove problematic for full and fair 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.RFS H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 281 RFS participation in developing monetary policy by indi- 1 viduals reflective of gender diversity and racial or 2 ethnic diversity; and 3 (5) the testimony and documentation described 4 in paragraph (3) provide a strong basis that there 5 is a compelling need for the below amendment to ad- 6 dress the historical lack of gender, racial, and ethnic 7 diversity in the Federal Reserve regional bank presi- 8 dents selection process in the Federal Reserve Sys- 9 tem. 10 SEC. 3. FEDERAL RESERVE BANK PRESIDENTS. 11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The provision designated ‘‘fifth’’ 12 of the fourth undesignated paragraph of section 4 of the 13 Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 341) is amended by in- 14 serting after ‘‘employees.’’ the following: ‘‘In making the 15 appointment of a president, the bank shall interview at 16 least one individual reflective of gender diversity and one 17 individual reflective of racial or ethnic diversity.’’. 18 (b) REPORT.—Not later than January 1 of each year, 19 each Federal reserve bank shall submit to the Committee 20 on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate, 21 the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Rep- 22 resentatives, and the Office of Inspector General for the 23 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and 24 the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection a report de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.RFS H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 281 RFS scribing the applicant pool demographic for the position 1 of the president of the Federal reserve bank for the pre- 2 ceding fiscal year, if applicable. 3 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL ADJUSTMENTS. 4 (a) AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS AND WORKFORCE 5 IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1998.—Section 418(b) of the 6 American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement 7 Act of 1998 (8 U.S.C. 1184 note) is amended by striking 8 ‘‘Chairman of the Board of Governors’’ and inserting 9 ‘‘Chair of the Board of Governors’’. 10 (b) BRETTON WOODS AGREEMENTS ACT.—The 11 Bretton Woods Agreements Act (22 U.S.C. 286 et seq.) 12 is amended— 13 (1) in section 4(a), by striking ‘‘Chairman of 14 the Board of Governors’’ and inserting ‘‘Chair of the 15 Board of Governors’’; and 16 (2) in section 45(a)(1), by striking ‘‘chairman 17 of the board of Governors’’ and inserting ‘‘Chair of 18 the Board of Governors’’. 19 (c) DODD-FRANK WALL STREET REFORM AND CON- 20 SUMER PROTECTION ACT.—The Dodd-Frank Wall Street 21 Reform and Consumer Protection Act (12 U.S.C. 5301 22 et seq.) is amended by striking ‘‘Chairman of the Board’’ 23 each place such term appears and inserting ‘‘Chair of the 24 Board’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.RFS H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 281 RFS (d) EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION ACT OF 1 2008.—The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5201 et seq.) is amended by striking 3 ‘‘Chairman of the Board’’ each place such term appears 4 and inserting ‘‘Chair of the Board’’. 5 (e) EMERGENCY LOAN GUARANTEE ACT.—Section 2 6 of the Emergency Loan Guarantee Act (15 U.S.C. 1841) 7 is amended by striking ‘‘Chairman of the Board of Gov- 8 ernors’’ and inserting ‘‘Chair of the Board of Governors’’. 9 (f) EMERGENCY STEEL LOAN GUARANTEE AND 10 EMERGENCY OIL AND GAS GUARANTEED LOAN ACT OF 11 1999.—The Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee and Emer- 12 gency Oil and Gas Guaranteed Loan Act of 1999 (15 13 U.S.C. 1841 note) is amended— 14 (1) in section 101(e)(2)— 15 (A) by striking ‘‘Chairman of the Board of 16 Governors’’ and inserting ‘‘Chair of the Board 17 of Governors’’; and 18 (B) by striking ‘‘Chairman,’’ and inserting 19 ‘‘Chair,’’; and 20 (2) in section 201(d)(2)(B)— 21 (A) by striking ‘‘Chairman of the Board of 22 Governors’’ and inserting ‘‘Chair of the Board 23 of Governors’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.RFS H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 281 RFS (B) by striking ‘‘Chairman,’’ and inserting 1 ‘‘Chair,’’. 2 (g) FARM CREDIT ACT OF 1971.—Section 3 4.9(d)(1)(C) of the Farm Credit Act of 1971 (12 U.S.C. 4 2160(d)(1)(C)) is amended by striking ‘‘Chairman of the 5 Board of Governors’’ and inserting ‘‘Chair of the Board 6 of Governors’’. 7 (h) FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE ACT.—The Fed- 8 eral Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1811 et seq.) is 9 amended— 10 (1) in section 7(a)(3), by striking ‘‘Chairman of 11 the Board of Governors’’ and inserting ‘‘Chair of the 12 Board of Governors’’; and 13 (2) in section 10(k)(5)(B)(ii), by striking 14 ‘‘Chairman of the Board of Governors’’ and insert- 15 ing ‘‘Chair of the Board of Governors’’. 16 (i) FEDERAL RESERVE ACT.—The Federal Reserve 17 Act (12 U.S.C. 226 et seq.) is amended— 18 (1) by striking ‘‘chairman’’ each place such 19 term appears and inserting ‘‘chair’’; 20 (2) by striking ‘‘Chairman’’ each place such 21 term appears other than in section 11(r)(2)(B) and 22 inserting ‘‘Chair’’; 23 (3) in section 2, in the sixth undesignated para- 24 graph— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.RFS H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 281 RFS (A) in the second sentence, by striking 1 ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the Comptroller of the 2 Currency’s’’; and 3 (B) in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘his’’ 4 and inserting ‘‘the director’s’’; 5 (4) in section 4— 6 (A) in the third undesignated paragraph, 7 by striking ‘‘his office’’ and inserting ‘‘the Of- 8 fice of the Comptroller of the Currency’’; 9 (B) in the fourth undesignated paragraph, 10 in the provision designated ‘‘fifth’’, by striking 11 ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the person’s’’; 12 (C) in the eighth undesignated paragraph, 13 by striking ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the chair’s’’; 14 (D) in the seventeenth undesignated para- 15 graph— 16 (i) by striking ‘‘his’’ and inserting 17 ‘‘the officer’s’’; and 18 (ii) by striking ‘‘he’’ and inserting 19 ‘‘the individual’’; 20 (E) in the twentieth undesignated para- 21 graph— 22 (i) by striking ‘‘He’’ each place such 23 term appears and inserting ‘‘The chair’’; 24 (ii) in the third sentence— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.RFS H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 HR 281 RFS (I) by striking ‘‘his’’ and insert- 1 ing ‘‘the’’; and 2 (II) by striking ‘‘he’’ and insert- 3 ing a comma; and 4 (iii) in the fifth sentence, by striking 5 ‘‘he’’ and inserting ‘‘the chair’’; and 6 (F) in the twenty-first undesignated para- 7 graph, by striking ‘‘his’’ each place such term 8 appears and inserting ‘‘the agent’s’’; 9 (5) in section 6, in the second undesignated 10 paragraph, by striking ‘‘he’’ and inserting ‘‘the 11 Comptroller of the Currency’’; 12 (6) in section 9A(c)(2)(C), by striking ‘‘he’’ and 13 inserting ‘‘the participant’’; 14 (7) in section 10— 15 (A) by striking ‘‘he’’ each place such term 16 appears and inserting ‘‘the member’’; 17 (B) in the second undesignated paragraph, 18 by striking ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the member’s’’; 19 and 20 (C) in the fourth undesignated para- 21 graph— 22 (i) in the second sentence, by striking 23 ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the chair’s’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.RFS H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 HR 281 RFS (ii) in the fifth sentence, by striking 1 ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the member’s’’; and 2 (iii) in the sixth sentence, by striking 3 ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the member’s’’; 4 (8) in section 12, by striking ‘‘his’’ and insert- 5 ing ‘‘the member’s’’; 6 (9) in section 13, in the tenth undesignated 7 paragraph, by striking ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the 8 assured’s’’; 9 (10) in section 16— 10 (A) by striking ‘‘he’’ each place such term 11 appears and inserting ‘‘the agent’’; 12 (B) in the seventh undesignated para- 13 graph— 14 (i) by striking ‘‘his’’ and inserting 15 ‘‘the agent’s’’; and 16 (ii) by striking ‘‘himself’’ and insert- 17 ing ‘‘the agent’’; 18 (C) in the tenth undesignated paragraph, 19 by striking ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the Sec- 20 retary’s’’; and 21 (D) in the fifteenth undesignated para- 22 graph, by striking ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the 23 agent’s’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.RFS H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 HR 281 RFS (11) in section 18, in the eighth undesignated 1 paragraph, by striking ‘‘he’’ and inserting ‘‘the Sec- 2 retary of the Treasury’’; 3 (12) in section 22— 4 (A) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘his’’ and 5 inserting ‘‘the director’s or officer’s’’; and 6 (B) in subsection (g)— 7 (i) in paragraph (1)(D)— 8 (I) by striking ‘‘him’’ and insert- 9 ing ‘‘the officer’’; and 10 (II) by striking ‘‘he’’ and insert- 11 ing ‘‘the officer’’; and 12 (ii) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking 13 ‘‘him as his’’ and inserting ‘‘the officer as 14 the officer’s’’; and 15 (13) in section 25A— 16 (A) in the twelfth undesignated para- 17 graph— 18 (i) by striking ‘‘he’’ each place such 19 term appears and inserting ‘‘the member’’; 20 and 21 (ii) by striking ‘‘his’’ and inserting 22 ‘‘the member’s’’; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.RFS H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 HR 281 RFS (B) in the fourteenth undesignated para- 1 graph, by striking ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the di- 2 rector’s or officer’s’’; and 3 (C) in the twenty-second undesignated 4 paragraph, by striking ‘‘his’’ each place such 5 term appears and inserting ‘‘such individual’s’’. 6 (j) FEDERAL RESERVE REFORM ACT OF 1977.—Sec- 7 tion 204(b) of the Federal Reserve Reform Act of 1977 8 (12 U.S.C. 242 note) is amended by striking ‘‘Chairman 9 or Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors’’ and insert- 10 ing ‘‘Chair or Vice Chair of the Board of Governors’’. 11 (k) FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS REFORM, RECOVERY, 12 AND ENFORCEMENT ACT OF 1989.—The Financial Insti- 13 tutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 14 is amended— 15 (1) in section 308 (12 U.S.C. 1463 note)— 16 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘Chair- 17 man of the Board of Governors’’ and inserting 18 ‘‘Chair of the Board of Governors’’; and 19 (B) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘Chair- 20 man of the Board of Governors’’ and inserting 21 ‘‘Chair of the Board of Governors’’; 22 (2) in section 1001(a) (12 U.S.C. 1811 note), 23 by striking ‘‘Chairman of the Board of Governors’’ 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.RFS H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 HR 281 RFS and inserting ‘‘Chair of the Board of Governors’’; 1 and 2 (3) in section 1205(b)(1)(A) (12 U.S.C. 1818 3 note)— 4 (A) by striking ‘‘Chairman of the Board of 5 Governors’’ and inserting ‘‘Chair of the Board 6 of Governors’’; and 7 (B) by striking ‘‘Chairman’s’’ and insert- 8 ing ‘‘Chair’s’’. 9 (l) FOOD, CONSERVATION, AND ENERGY ACT OF 10 2008.—Section 13106(a) of the Food, Conservation, and 11 Energy Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2 note) is amended by strik- 12 ing ‘‘Chairman of the Board of Governors’’ and inserting 13 ‘‘Chair of the Board of Governors’’. 14 (m) HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACT 15 OF 1992.—Section 1313(a)(3) of the Housing and Com- 16 munity Development Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4513(a)(3)) 17 is amended— 18 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘CHAIRMAN’’ 19 and inserting ‘‘CHAIR’’; 20 (2) by striking ‘‘Chairman of the Board of Gov- 21 ernors’’ and inserting ‘‘Chair of the Board of Gov- 22 ernors’’; and 23 (3) by striking ‘‘Chairman regarding’’ and in- 24 serting ‘‘Chair regarding’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.RFS H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 HR 281 RFS (n) INSPECTOR GENERAL ACT OF 1978.—Section 8G 1 of the Inspector General Act of 1978 is amended by strik- 2 ing ‘‘Chairman of the Board of Governors’’ each place 3 such term appears and inserting ‘‘Chair of the Board of 4 Governors’’. 5 (o) INTERNATIONAL LENDING SUPERVISION ACT OF 6 1983.—Section 908(b)(3)(C) of the International Lending 7 Supervision Act of 1983 (12 U.S.C. 3907(b)(3)(C)) is 8 amended by striking ‘‘Chairman of the Board of Gov- 9 ernors’’ and inserting ‘‘Chair of the Board of Governors’’. 10 (p) NEIGHBORHOOD REINVESTMENT CORPORATION 11 ACT.—Section 604(a)(3) of the Neighborhood Reinvest- 12 ment Corporation Act (42 U.S.C. 8103(a)(3)) is amended 13 by striki [Text truncated for display. 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