GUIDE Compliance Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4692 To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to provide proce- dures for guidance issued by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protec- tion, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 Mr. LANKFORD (for himself, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to provide procedures for guidance issued by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, 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 ‘‘Give Useful Informa- 4 tion to Define Effective Compliance Act’’ or the ‘‘GUIDE 5 Compliance Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4692.IS S4692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4692 IS SEC. 2. PROCEDURES FOR BUREAU GUIDANCE. 1 Section 1022(b) of the Consumer Financial Protec- 2 tion Act of 2010 is amended by adding at the end the 3 following: 4 ‘‘(5) PROCEDURES FOR BUREAU GUIDANCE.— 5 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 6 ‘‘(i) the term ‘Bureau’ means— 7 ‘‘(I) the Director of the Bureau; 8 ‘‘(II) the Deputy Director of the 9 Bureau; and 10 ‘‘(III) any employee of the Bu- 11 reau described in section 12 1013(a)(1)(B); and 13 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘guidance’— 14 ‘‘(I) means— 15 ‘‘(aa) an agency statement 16 of general applicability and fu- 17 ture effect, other than a regu- 18 latory action, that sets forth a 19 policy on a statutory, regulatory, 20 or technical issue or an interpre- 21 tation of a statutory or regu- 22 latory issue; and 23 ‘‘(bb) any written interpre- 24 tive rule, bulletin, statement of 25 policy, letter, examination man- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4692.IS S4692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4692 IS ual, frequently asked question, 1 notice, directive, news release, 2 blog post, small entity compliance 3 guide, or other authoritative doc- 4 ument issued by the Bureau re- 5 garding compliance with a Fed- 6 eral consumer financial law; and 7 ‘‘(II) does not include— 8 ‘‘(aa) a purely internal Bu- 9 reau policy; 10 ‘‘(bb) a law enforcement 11 communication such as a com- 12 plaint, consent order, judgment, 13 legal opinion, warning letter, in- 14 vestigatory letter, notice of hear- 15 ing, civil investigative demand, 16 subpoena, no-action letter, advi- 17 sory opinion, or any request in 18 lieu of the foregoing; 19 ‘‘(cc) an individualized su- 20 pervisory communication such as 21 a supervisory letter, report of ex- 22 amination, memorandum of un- 23 derstanding, board resolution, 24 matter requiring attention, or in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4692.IS S4692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4692 IS dividualized communication or 1 agreement pursuant to the super- 2 visory authority of the Bureau; 3 or 4 ‘‘(dd) a decision issued 5 under subtitle E. 6 ‘‘(B) GUIDANCE REQUIREMENTS.—The Di- 7 rector shall issue guidance that is necessary or 8 appropriate to enable the Bureau to carry out 9 Federal consumer financial law, including facili- 10 tating compliance with such law. 11 ‘‘(C) RULEMAKING.— 12 ‘‘(i) PROPOSED RULE.—Not later 13 than 18 months after the date of enact- 14 ment of this paragraph, the Bureau shall 15 publish in the Federal Register and on the 16 website of the Bureau a proposed rule de- 17 fining— 18 ‘‘(I) each type of guidance the 19 Bureau shall provide; 20 ‘‘(II) the criteria the Bureau 21 shall use for selecting each type of 22 guidance; 23 ‘‘(III) the process and timelines 24 for requests for guidance; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4692.IS S4692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4692 IS ‘‘(IV) the time periods for the re- 1 sponse of the Bureau to a request for 2 each type of guidance; and 3 ‘‘(V) a process for amending or 4 revoking guidance issued under the 5 rule, including a process for public 6 input on any proposal to amend or re- 7 voke guidance, unless the Bureau de- 8 termines public input is not required 9 due to public exigency. 10 ‘‘(ii) FINAL RULE.—Not later than 1 11 year after the date on which the proposed 12 rule described in clause (i) is published, 13 the Bureau shall publish a final rule based 14 on the proposed rule. 15 ‘‘(D) RELIANCE ON BUREAU GUIDANCE.— 16 No person shall be held liable for any act done 17 or omitted in good faith in conformity with any 18 applicable guidance from the Bureau or any 19 predecessor agency that was in effect at the 20 time of the act or omission, even if the guidance 21 is later revoked, amended, or rendered incon- 22 sistent by guidance or action by the Bureau or 23 a determination by a court of competent juris- 24 diction. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4692.IS S4692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4692 IS ‘‘(E) DEVELOPMENT OF A PENALTY MA- 1 TRIX.— 2 ‘‘(i) PROPOSED RULE.—Not later 3 than 18 months after the date of the en- 4 actment of this subparagraph, the Bureau 5 shall publish in the Federal Register and 6 on the website of the Bureau a proposed 7 rule establishing guidelines for determining 8 the size of any civil monetary penalties 9 issued by the Bureau based on the severity 10 of the actionable conduct in violation of a 11 Federal consumer financial law and the 12 level of culpability. The regulations pre- 13 scribed under this paragraph shall, to the 14 extent possible, align with any chart, ma- 15 trix, rule, or guideline published by the Of- 16 fice of the Comptroller of the Currency, 17 the Corporation, or the Board of Gov- 18 ernors. 19 ‘‘(ii) FINAL RULE.—Not later than 1 20 year after the date on which the proposed 21 rule described in clause (i) is published, 22 the Bureau shall publish a final rule based 23 on the proposed rule.’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4692.IS S4692 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS