Tenant Protection Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4471 To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide requirements for landlords and consumer reporting agencies relating to housing court records, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 6, 2020 Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide require- ments for landlords and consumer reporting agencies relating to housing court records, 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 ‘‘Tenant Protection 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TENANT BLACKLISTING. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 7 (1) the terms ‘‘consumer’’, ‘‘consumer report’’, 8 and ‘‘nationwide specialty consumer reporting agen- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4471.IS S4471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4471 IS cy’’ have the meanings given those terms in section 1 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 2 1681a); and 3 (2) the term ‘‘tenant rating agency’’ means a 4 nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency de- 5 scribed in section 603(x)(2) of the Fair Credit Re- 6 porting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a(x)(2)). 7 (b) AMENDMENTS TO THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING 8 ACT.—The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 9 et seq.) is amended— 10 (1) in section 605 (15 U.S.C. 1681c), by adding 11 at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(i) HOUSING COURT RECORDS.—A consumer re- 13 porting agency may not make a consumer report con- 14 taining a landlord-tenant court or other housing court 15 record, unless— 16 ‘‘(1) the case to which the record pertains re- 17 sulted in a judgment of possession; 18 ‘‘(2) the decision of the court in the case to 19 which the record pertains is not being appealed; and 20 ‘‘(3) the record antedates the consumer report 21 by not more than 3 years.’’; 22 (2) in section 611(a) (15 U.S.C. 1681i(a))— 23 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘or 24 by submitting a notice of the dispute through 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4471.IS S4471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4471 IS the centralized source described in section 1 612(a)(1)(B) or the centralized source required 2 to be established under section 2(c) of the Ten- 3 ant Protection Act’’ after ‘‘through a reseller’’; 4 and 5 (B) in paragraph (2)— 6 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 7 (I) by striking ‘‘or a reseller’’ 8 and inserting ‘‘a reseller, or a central- 9 ized source’’; and 10 (II) by striking ‘‘or reseller’’ and 11 inserting ‘‘reseller, or centralized 12 source’’; and 13 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 14 ‘‘or the reseller’’ and inserting ‘‘the re- 15 seller, or the centralized source’’; 16 (3) in section 615 (15 U.S.C. 1681m), by add- 17 ing at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(i) ADDITIONAL DUTY OF USERS TAKING ADVERSE 19 ACTIONS ON THE BASIS OF HOUSING COURT RECORDS 20 CONTAINED IN CONSUMER REPORTS.—If any person 21 takes any adverse action with respect to a consumer that 22 is based in whole or in part on a landlord-tenant court 23 or other housing record contained in a consumer report, 24 the person shall provide to the consumer a free copy of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4471.IS S4471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4471 IS the consumer report used by the person in taking the ad- 1 verse action.’’; 2 (4) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘SEC. 630. CIVIL LIABILITY FOR CREATING REPORTS WITH 4 INACCURATE HOUSING COURT RECORDS. 5 ‘‘Any person who willfully makes a consumer report 6 with respect to a consumer that contains an inaccurate 7 landlord-tenant court or other housing record is liable to 8 the consumer in an amount equal to the sum of— 9 ‘‘(1) any actual damages sustained by the con- 10 sumer as a result of making that consumer report 11 or damages of not less than $500 and not more than 12 $1,500; 13 ‘‘(2) such amount of punitive damages as the 14 court may allow; and 15 ‘‘(3) in the case of any successful action to en- 16 force any liability under this section, the costs of the 17 action together with reasonable attorney’s fees as de- 18 termined by the court.’’; and 19 (5) in the table of contents, by inserting after 20 the item relating to section 629 the following: 21 ‘‘630. Civil liability for creating reports with inaccurate housing court records.’’. (c) REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO CLEARINGHOUSE 22 SYSTEM.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enact- 23 ment of this Act, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Pro- 24 tection shall issue regulations— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4471.IS S4471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4471 IS (1) applicable to tenant rating agencies to re- 1 quire the establishment of— 2 (A) a centralized source through which 3 consumers may— 4 (i) obtain a consumer report from 5 each such tenant rating agency once dur- 6 ing any 12-month period, using a single re- 7 quest, and without charge to the consumer, 8 as provided in section 612(a) of the Fair 9 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 10 1681j(a)); and 11 (ii) submit a notice of a dispute of in- 12 accurate information, as provided in sec- 13 tion 611(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting 14 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681i(a)); and 15 (B) a standardized form for a consumer to 16 make a request for a consumer report under 17 subparagraph (A)(i) or submit a notice of dis- 18 pute under subparagraph (A)(ii) by mail or 19 through an Internet website; and 20 (2) to provide that a consumer may submit a 21 notice of dispute of inaccurate information through 22 the centralized source established in accordance with 23 section 211(c) of the Fair and Accurate Credit 24 Transactions Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. 1681j note), as 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4471.IS S4471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4471 IS provided in section 611(a) of the Fair Credit Re- 1 porting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681i(a)), using the stand- 2 ardized form described in paragraph (1)(B). 3 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 4 of enactment of this Act, the Bureau of Consumer Finan- 5 cial Protection shall conduct a study and submit to Con- 6 gress a report on the status of tenant rating agencies and 7 the compliance of tenant rating agencies under the Fair 8 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), including 9 a gap analysis of laws and resources to deter noncompli- 10 ance with the intent and purpose of the Fair Credit Re- 11 porting Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.). 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4471.IS S4471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS