Farm Credit Administration Independent Authority Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2423 To affirm that the Farm Credit Administration is the sole and independent regulator of the Farm Credit System. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 30, 2023 Mr. FINSTAD (for himself, Mr. PANETTA, Mrs. FISCHBACH, Mr. LAMALFA, and Ms. CRAIG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To affirm that the Farm Credit Administration is the sole and independent regulator of the Farm Credit System. 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 ‘‘Farm Credit Adminis- 4 tration Independent Authority Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2423.IH H2423 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2423 IH SEC. 2. FARMER LOAN DATA COLLECTION. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Farm Credit Act of 1971 (12 2 U.S.C. 2001 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 3 4.19 the following: 4 ‘‘SEC. 4.20. SMALL FARMER LOAN DATA COLLECTION. 5 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to af- 6 firm that the Farm Credit Administration is the sole and 7 independent regulator of the Farm Credit System. 8 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘small 9 farmer’ means a ‘small farmer, rancher, or producer or 10 harvester of aquatic products’ as defined pursuant to sec- 11 tion 4.19. 12 ‘‘(c) COLLECTION OF DEMOGRAPHIC DATA BY FARM 13 CREDIT SYSTEM LENDERS.—Notwithstanding any other 14 provision of law, Farm Credit System institutions, pursu- 15 ant to regulations promulgated by the Farm Credit Ad- 16 ministration, shall— 17 ‘‘(1) request that loan applicants and borrowers 18 that are small farmers disclose information identi- 19 fying their race, sex, and ethnicity; 20 ‘‘(2) collect and maintain the information re- 21 sulting from the requests; and 22 ‘‘(3) report to the Farm Credit Administration 23 on an annual basis the information collected pursu- 24 ant to the requests. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2423.IH H2423 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2423 IH ‘‘(d) DIRECTIONS TO THE FARM CREDIT ADMINIS- 1 TRATION.—The Farm Credit Administration— 2 ‘‘(1) shall collect the information gathered by 3 Farm Credit System institutions under this section 4 and make the information available to the public on 5 an annual basis; and 6 ‘‘(2) shall not require, in prescribing regulations 7 to implement this section, that any Farm Credit 8 System institution contradict the wishes of a cus- 9 tomer who does not wish to voluntarily report race, 10 sex, or ethnicity by requiring the Farm Credit Sys- 11 tem institution to report the race, sex, or ethnicity 12 of the customer based on visual observation, sur- 13 name, or any other method. 14 ‘‘(e) PROTECTION OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE 15 INFORMATION.—In reporting the information collected 16 under this section, the Farm Credit Administration shall 17 not include any information that would reveal the identify 18 of any loan applicant or borrower. 19 ‘‘(f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 20 only to applications received and loans made 1 year or 21 more after the date of the enactment of this section.’’. 22 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 23 Section 704B(h)(1) of the Equal Credit Opportunity 24 Act (15 U.S.C. 1691c–2(h)(1)) is amended by inserting 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2423.IH H2423 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2423 IH ‘‘, other than any entity that is supervised by the Farm 1 Credit Administration’’ before the period at the end. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2423.IH H2423 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB