Comprehensive reviews of all rules by federal financial institution regulators – including the consumer protection agency and the credit union regulator – would be required every seven years rather than 10 under legislation set to be considered in the House this week.
Under H.R. 4607 (the Comprehensive Regulatory Review Act), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), Federal Reserve, National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) would be required to increase the frequency of the now-required reviews.
Additionally, the agencies would be required to expand the scope of the regulatory review to include requirements imposed on individual people or on companies that offer consumer financial products or services.
The agencies would also be required to tailor regulations to reduce the burden on such entities.
The bill, authored by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), amends the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 (EGRPRA) to “ensure that Federal financial regulators perform a comprehensive review of regulations to identify outdated or otherwise unnecessary regulatory requirements imposed on covered persons,” among other things.
The bill is scheduled to be considered on the House floor Tuesday.
Currently, only the federal banking agencies are subject to EGRPRA; the CFPB and NCUA are not included. H.R. 4607 would change that by bringing those agencies under the law’s umbrella.
Even though the credit union regulator has not been covered by EGRPRA in the past, it has performed reviews to meet the spirit of the law while continuing a long practice of issuing calls for comments on one-third of its existing rules every three years.