Protect Federal Workers' Credit Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 535 To enable Federal employees and contractors to correct their credit reports to remove adverse items of information reported as a result of a shut- down, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mr. WARNER, and Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To enable Federal employees and contractors to correct their credit reports to remove adverse items of information reported as a result of a shutdown, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Federal Work- 4 ers’ Credit Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S535.IS S535 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 535 IS SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 Section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 2 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 3 lowing: 4 ‘‘(bb) CONTRACTOR.—The term ‘contractor’ has the 5 meaning given the term in section 7101 of title 41, United 6 States Code. 7 ‘‘(cc) COVERED PERIOD.—The term ‘covered period’ 8 means— 9 ‘‘(1) the period beginning on the date on which 10 a shutdown begins and ending on the date that is 11 30 days after the date on which the shutdown ends; 12 and 13 ‘‘(2) with respect to the shutdown that began 14 on December 21, 2018, and ended on January 25, 15 2019, the 60-day period beginning on the date of en- 16 actment of this Act. 17 ‘‘(dd) FEDERAL WORKER.—The term ‘Federal work- 18 er’— 19 ‘‘(1) means an employee of a Government agen- 20 cy that had a lapse in appropriations as a result of 21 a shutdown; and 22 ‘‘(2) includes an employee of a contractor that 23 has a contract with a Government agency that had 24 a lapse in appropriations as a result of a shutdown. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S535.IS S535 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 535 IS ‘‘(ee) SHUTDOWN.—The term ‘shutdown’ means any 1 period in which there is more than a 24-hour lapse in ap- 2 propriations for any Government agency or Federal de- 3 partment as a result of a failure to enact a regular appro- 4 priations bill or continuing resolution that results in a 5 delay or loss of payment or wages to a Federal worker. 6 ‘‘(ff) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The term ‘small 7 business concern’ has the meaning given the term in sec- 8 tion 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).’’. 9 SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON FURNISHING AN ADVERSE ITEM OF 10 INFORMATION RESULTING FROM THE SHUT- 11 DOWN. 12 Section 623 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 13 U.S.C. 1681s–2) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 14 lowing: 15 ‘‘(f) LIMITATION ON FURNISHING ADVERSE INFOR- 16 MATION RESULTING FROM A SHUTDOWN.—A person shall 17 not furnish any adverse item of information relating to 18 a consumer during a covered period to any consumer re- 19 porting agency if the person has been notified by the con- 20 sumer that— 21 ‘‘(1) the ability of the consumer to make an on- 22 time payment during the covered period has been 23 materially affected by a shutdown; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S535.IS S535 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 535 IS ‘‘(2) the late or missed payment by the con- 1 sumer during the covered period was a result of a 2 shutdown.’’. 3 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON INCLUDING AN ADVERSE ITEM OF 4 INFORMATION IN CONSUMER REPORTS. 5 Section 605(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 6 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 7 following: 8 ‘‘(9) An adverse item of information reported to 9 the consumer reporting agency relating to a con- 10 sumer during a covered period if— 11 ‘‘(A) the consumer is a Federal worker 12 listed in the database described in section 13 611(h)(2); or 14 ‘‘(B) the consumer has successfully re- 15 quested the removal of an adverse item of infor- 16 mation contained in the consumer’s file pursu- 17 ant to the process described in section 18 611(h)(4).’’. 19 SEC. 5. PROCESS FOR DELETING NEGATIVE INFORMATION 20 FROM CONSUMER REPORTS. 21 The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et 22 seq.) is amended— 23 (1) in section 609(c)(1)(B) (15 U.S.C. 24 1681g(c)(1)(B))— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S535.IS S535 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 535 IS (A) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 1 end; 2 (B) in clause (vi), by striking the period at 3 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4 (C) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(vi) the right of a consumer to— 6 ‘‘(I) request the deletion of ad- 7 verse items of information under sec- 8 tion 611(h)(4); and 9 ‘‘(II) request 2 consumer reports, 10 without charge to the consumer, 11 under section 611(h)(5).’’; and 12 (2) in section 611 (15 U.S.C. 1681i)— 13 (A) in subsection (a)(1)(A), by inserting 14 ‘‘and subsection (h)’’ before ‘‘, if the complete- 15 ness’’; and 16 (B) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(h) DELETION OF ADVERSE ITEMS OF INFORMA- 18 TION RESULTING FROM A SHUTDOWN.— 19 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE LIST OF IM- 20 PACTED FEDERAL WORKERS.— 21 ‘‘(A) RECENT SHUTDOWN.—Not later than 22 30 days after the date of enactment of this sub- 23 section— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S535.IS S535 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 535 IS ‘‘(i) each Government agency for 1 which there was a lapse in appropriations 2 during the shutdown that ended on Janu- 3 ary 25, 2019, shall provide to the Bureau 4 a list of each Federal worker who was fur- 5 loughed or required to work without pay 6 for any period of time during a shutdown; 7 and 8 ‘‘(ii) each Federal contractor impacted 9 by the shutdown that ended on January 10 25, 2019, shall provide to the Bureau a list 11 of each employee whose pay was reduced 12 or delayed as a result of a shutdown. 13 ‘‘(B) SUBSEQUENT SHUTDOWNS.—With 14 respect to a shutdown beginning after January 15 25, 2019, not later than 3 days after the date 16 on which the shutdown ends— 17 ‘‘(i) each Government agency for 18 which there was a lapse in appropriations 19 shall provide to the Bureau a list of each 20 Federal worker who was furloughed or re- 21 quired to work without pay for any period 22 of time during the shutdown; and 23 ‘‘(ii) each Federal contractor impacted 24 by the shutdown shall provide to the Bu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S535.IS S535 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 535 IS reau a list of each employee whose pay was 1 reduced or delayed as a result of the shut- 2 down. 3 ‘‘(2) DATABASE.—The Bureau shall establish 4 and maintain a secure database that— 5 ‘‘(A) is accessible to consumer reporting 6 agencies described in section 603(p) and nation- 7 wide specialty consumer reporting agencies to 8 check and automatically delete any adverse item 9 of information reported during a covered period 10 with respect to a Federal worker under para- 11 graph (3); and 12 ‘‘(B) contains the information reported 13 under paragraph (1). 14 ‘‘(3) DELETION OF ADVERSE ITEMS OF INFOR- 15 MATION BY NATIONWIDE CONSUMER REPORTING 16 AND NATIONWIDE SPECIALTY CONSUMER REPORT- 17 ING AGENCIES.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each consumer re- 19 porting agency described in section 603(p) and 20 each nationwide specialty consumer reporting 21 agency shall, using the information contained in 22 the database established under paragraph (2), 23 delete from the file of each Federal worker 24 named in the database each adverse item of in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S535.IS S535 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 535 IS formation reported to the agency during the 1 covered period. 2 ‘‘(B) TIMELINE.—Each agency described 3 in subparagraph (A) shall— 4 ‘‘(i) delete adverse items of informa- 5 tion as soon as practicable after informa- 6 tion that is reported under paragraph (1) 7 appears in the database established under 8 paragraph (2); and 9 ‘‘(ii) not later than the date that is 3 10 days after the end of a covered period, de- 11 lete any remaining adverse items of infor- 12 mation that were reported between the 13 date on which adverse items of information 14 were deleted under clause (i) and the end 15 of the covered period. 16 ‘‘(4) REQUEST FOR DELETION OF ADVERSE 17 ITEMS OF INFORMATION.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A consumer who is an 19 employee or owner of a small business concern 20 and who was materially affected by a shutdown 21 may submit a request, without charge to the 22 consumer, to a consumer reporting agency to 23 delete from the consumer’s file an adverse item 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S535.IS S535 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 535 IS of information reported to the consumer report- 1 ing agency during the covered period. 2 ‘‘(B) TIMING.—A consumer may submit a 3 request under subparagraph (A)— 4 ‘‘(i) with respect to the shutdown that 5 ended on January 25, 2019, not later than 6 90 days after the date of enactment of this 7 subsection; and 8 ‘‘(ii) with respect to a shutdown be- 9 ginning after January 25, 2019, not later 10 than 90 days after the date on which the 11 shutdown ends. 12 ‘‘(C) REMOVAL AND NOTIFICATION.—Upon 13 receiving a request under this paragraph to de- 14 lete an adverse item of information, a consumer 15 reporting agency shall— 16 ‘‘(i) delete the adverse item of infor- 17 mation from the consumer’s file if the con- 18 sumer provides documentation to the con- 19 sumer reporting agency that the consumer 20 is— 21 ‘‘(I) a Federal worker whose pay 22 was delayed or reduced during the 23 covered period; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S535.IS S535 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 535 IS ‘‘(II) an employee or owner of a 1 small business concern who was mate- 2 rially affected by a shutdown; and 3 ‘‘(ii) notify the consumer and the fur- 4 nisher of the adverse item of information 5 of the deletion. 6 ‘‘(5) FREE CREDIT REPORTS.— 7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A consumer reporting 8 agency shall make all disclosures pursuant to 9 section 609 twice during the 12-month period 10 following the end of a shutdown upon request 11 by a consumer impacted by the shutdown and 12 without charge to the consumer— 13 ‘‘(i) with respect to the shutdown that 14 ended on January 25, 2019, if the con- 15 sumer makes a request within 180 days 16 after the date of enactment of this sub- 17 section; and 18 ‘‘(ii) with respect to a shutdown be- 19 ginning after January 25, 2019, if the con- 20 sumer makes a request within 180 days 21 after the date on which the shutdown ends. 22 ‘‘(B) TIMING.—A consumer reporting 23 agency shall provide a consumer report under 24 subparagraph (A) not later than 15 days after 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S535.IS S535 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 535 IS the date on which the request is received under 1 subparagraph (A). 2 ‘‘(C) ADDITIONAL REPORTS.—A consumer 3 report provided under subparagraph (A) shall 4 be in addition to any report requested by the 5 consumer under section 612(a). 6 ‘‘(D) PROHIBITION.—A consumer report- 7 ing agency that receives a request under sub- 8 paragraph (A) may not request or require any 9 documentation from the consumer that dem- 10 onstrates that the consumer was impacted by a 11 shutdown as a condition of receiving the con- 12 sumer report. 13 ‘‘(6) POSTING OF RIGHTS.—Not later than 30 14 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and im- 15 mediately after the beginning of a shutdown, each 16 consumer reporting agency shall prominently post 17 and maintain a direct link on the homepage of the 18 public website of the consumer reporting agency in- 19 formation relating to the right of consumers to— 20 ‘‘(A) request the deletion of adverse items 21 of information under paragraph (4); and 22 ‘‘(B) request 2 consumer reports, without 23 charge to the consumer, under paragraph (5).’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S535.IS S535 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS