Native American Housing Affordability Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2725 To modify the procedures for loan guarantees provided for Indian housing, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 29, 2019 Mr. ROUNDS (for himself, Ms. SMITH, Mr. THUNE, Mr. TESTER, Ms. MCSALLY, and Ms. CORTEZ MASTO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To modify the procedures for loan guarantees provided for Indian housing, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native American 4 Housing Affordability Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 (1) the extended timelines for approving lend- 8 ers’ applications to participate in the program estab- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Oct 31, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2725.IS S2725 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2725 IS lished under section 184 of the Housing and Com- 1 munity Development Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 1715z– 2 13a) are unacceptably long; 3 (2) those extended timelines inhibit the ability 4 of lenders to provide needed mortgage loans on Na- 5 tive American reservations; and 6 (3) it can take a significant amount of time for 7 certain Bureau of Indian Affairs Land Title and 8 Records Offices to issue final certified title status re- 9 ports for mortgages issued on Indian trust land 10 under section 184 of the Housing and Community 11 Development Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 1715z–13a), 12 which delays the guarantee of the loan by the De- 13 partment of Housing and Urban Development. 14 SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENTS TO LOAN GUARANTEES FOR IN- 15 DIAN HOUSING. 16 (a) DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED FOR INDIAN TRUST 17 LAND.—Section 184(c) of the Housing and Community 18 Development Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 1715z–13a(c)) is 19 amended by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘(5) TRAILING DOCUMENTS.— 21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 22 issue a certificate of guarantee under this sub- 23 section for a loan involving a security interest 24 in Indian trust land before the Secretary re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Oct 31, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2725.IS S2725 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2725 IS ceives the trailing documents required by the 1 Secretary, including the final certified title sta- 2 tus report showing the recordation by the Bu- 3 reau of Indian Affairs of the mortgage relating 4 to the loan, if the originating lender agrees to 5 indemnify the Secretary for any losses that may 6 result when— 7 ‘‘(i) a claim payment is presented to 8 the Secretary due to the default of the bor- 9 rower on the loan; and 10 ‘‘(ii) the required trailing documents 11 are outstanding. 12 ‘‘(B) TERMINATION OF INDEMNIFICATION 13 AGREEMENT.—An indemnification agreement 14 between an originating lender and the Secretary 15 described in subparagraph (A) shall only termi- 16 nate upon receipt by the Secretary of the trail- 17 ing documents described in that subparagraph 18 in a form and manner that is acceptable to the 19 Secretary. 20 ‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 21 in this paragraph shall be construed as author- 22 izing the Bureau of Indian Affairs to delay the 23 issuance of a final certified title status report 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Oct 31, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2725.IS S2725 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2725 IS and recorded mortgage relating to a loan closed 1 on Indian trust land.’’. 2 (b) REPORTING.—The Secretary of Housing and 3 Urban Development shall— 4 (1) report to the Committee on Banking, Hous- 5 ing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee on In- 6 dian Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Fi- 7 nancial Services and the Committee on Natural Re- 8 sources of the House of Representatives on a semi- 9 annual basis on the progress that the Secretary is 10 making to accelerate the processing of lender appli- 11 cations under section 184 of the Housing and Com- 12 munity Development Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 1715z– 13 13a); and 14 (2) if there is no improvement in accelerating 15 those processing timelines, submit to the committees 16 described in paragraph (1) a report explaining the 17 lack of improvement. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Oct 31, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2725.IS S2725 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS