Scott Tipton

Mr. TIPTON

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1457) to establish requirements for use of a driver's license or personal identification card by certain financial institutions for opening an account or obtaining a financial product or service, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, as financial service products continue to merge with the ever-evolving world of technology, the opportunities to reach unbanked and underserved households also continue to increase. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 7 percent of the U.S. population is unbanked, and 19.9 percent is underbanked. The FDIC has concluded previously that mobile banking is well positioned to meet the day-to-day financial service needs of underbanked consumers as well as consumers at risk of account closure. Providing mobile financial services products to these households has shown to improve their financial outcomes by giving consumers more control over their finances, which helps households avoid burdensome fees and allows them to manage necessary payments more conveniently. Further FDIC research suggests that nearly three-quarters of all underbanked households have access to a smartphone and that more than one-third of underbanked households used mobile banking in the past year. In particular, the FDIC found that mobile financial services improved account stability by helping underserved consumers successfully manage and maintain bank accounts. Unfortunately, access to mobile financial service products is not equal across the United States. The Making Online Banking Initiation Legal and Easy Act remedies this lack of parity by establishing a uniform policy nationwide, allowing a financial institution to record personal information from a driver's license for the purpose of opening a bank account with a scan or copy. The MOBILE Act creates uniform access to helpful financial products and provides certainty to financial institutions to offer their full range of mobile banking products to all consumers nationwide. While the MOBILE Act creates a consistent law across the United States, it is careful to protect consumer privacy information and existing State privacy laws. The bill requires financial institutions to delete all copies of a driver's license and personal identification after having used them for the permitted purposes of opening an account. The legislation is also careful not to reduce any financial institution's commitment to comply with Federal and State laws aimed at preventing identity theft, financial fraud, money laundering, or know your customer and Customer Identification Programs. A Federal Reserve report from 2016 found that mobile banking use was rising at relatively fast rates, reporting that 43 percent of all mobile phone owners with a bank account had used mobile banking in the past 12 months, up from 39 percent in 2014 and 33 percent in 2013. Following this trend, the use of mobile banking will continue to grow, and the MOBILE Act ensures that every consumer across the country who wants to use a mobile banking product is able to do so. This bill was passed out of the Financial Services Committee on a unanimous, bipartisan vote. The MOBILE Act provides consumers easier access to the highly regulated financial services industry by simplifying their ability to open an account through the process of scanning or copying their State- issued identification card. As one State banking association wrote to me: This legislation is mutually beneficial to both financial institutions and their customers. The MOBILE Act will help expand access to critical banking services for underbanked populations by offering similar retail services through mobile technology. Increasing access for mobile financial services products also means giving rural communities, like many of the small towns I represent in Colorado, access to financial success. While many of us can drive a short distance, walk into a bank, and open an account, there are rural communities where physical bank locations are few and far between. By allowing those with smartphones to essentially have their bank accounts in their pocket, geography is no longer a constraint to accessing financial services products. All families should have the tools they need to be able to achieve the financial stability and the prosperity the MOBILE Act will provide. Mr. Speaker, this legislation is important for the future financial health of our Nation's customers. I urge its passage here today, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TIPTON. I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. TIPTON

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1426) to amend the Home Owners' Loan Act to allow Federal savings associations to elect to operate as national banks, and for other purposes.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, mutual savings banks, cooperative banks, and mutual savings and loan associations are essential community-based financial institutions that have a long history of serving their neighbors and promoting small-town economic growth. However, many of the benefits once given to Federal savings associations, also known as thrifts, that encouraged community growth and financial well-being have been stifled by changes initiated under the Dodd-Frank Act. While Dodd-Frank eliminated many of the benefits provided to Federal savings associations, the HOLA restrictions, unfortunately, remain. These restrictions have left Federal savings associations at a disadvantage and without the flexibility needed to adapt to meet community needs and, as a result, are forcing many mutual banks to either close or merge with other institutions, meaning fewer and more expensive choices for consumers hoping to finance important purchases. H.R. 1426, Mr. Rothfus' bipartisan legislation that passed out of the Financial Services Committee unanimously, would help to preserve these important community financial institutions by providing mutual banks with a framework to become covered savings associations. This process would provide thrifts the ability to operate with the same rights and duties as national banks without subjecting them to a complex, time- consuming, and costly charter conversion process. Providing thrifts the flexibility to exercise national bank powers without changing their charters would give institutions the ability to exceed the commercial and consumer loan limits that apply under the Home Owners' Loan Act but continue to benefit from their structure for purposes of consolidation, merger, dissolution, conservatorship, and receivership. Because the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency already supervises both national bank and Federal savings association charters, it is uniquely positioned to provide the structural framework for the election process that would transition the rights and duties of a national bank to a thrift. Mr. Rothfus' bill instructs the OCC to develop a series of rulemakings to outline this election process, while also requiring safeguards to prevent malpractice in the transition process, as well as abuses in the new structure once it has been instituted. Community financial institutions should be given the tools they need to lend effectively to their communities, and this bill creates the legislative landscape for savings associations to do just that. Ultimately, the bill creates opportunities for families and small businesses to access financing for their important purchases, from buying a home to expanding a business. Federal savings associations have a long, proud history of being responsive to their communities' needs, and this legislation will help them to enhance and continue that record. I cannot give more emphatic support for this commonsense, bipartisan legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support this measure. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus), vice chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. He is also the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TIPTON

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2255), to clarify that nonprofit organizations may accept donated mortgage appraisals, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Trott), a member of the Financial Services Committee and the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to be able to speak on behalf of these important bills today. While low-income applicants and homebuilders seek to provide affordable, decent housing opportunities to qualifying individuals and families, these nonprofits rely on the generosity of others in their communities to accomplish their mission. These groups also heavily rely on meticulous budgets, and a change in the input costs can have serious implications for a project's success as well as the number of families a group can serve. The Dodd-Frank Act increased requirements for real estate appraisers and transferred rulemaking authority for residential mortgage appraisals to the CFPB. Under Dodd-Frank, professionals who furnish appraisal services for a fee are able to receive a payment that is ``customary and reasonable'' for the market area where the appraisal services were performed. However, the CFPB has not defined find the terms ``customary'' and ``reasonable,'' which has left nonprofit housing organizations with the serious concern that they violate the law when the work of appraisers is donated. If nonprofit housing organizations are required to start paying for appraisal services, which could cost over $1,000 per appraisal, the Dodd-Frank statute could unintentionally limit the number of families in need that these nonprofit organizations can serve. Mr. Trott's legislation, the Housing Opportunities Made Easier Act, would remedy this uncertainty by amending the Truth in Lending Act to allow mortgage appraisal services to be donated by fee appraisers to an organization that is eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions. This simple fix will ensure that housing nonprofit organizations can continue to provide their incredibly important services for as many in- need families in our communities as possible, and I commend Mr. Trott for this legislation. I would also like to voice my support for H.R. 4281, the Expanding Access to Capital for Rural Job Creators Act. As a former small-business owner in a rural part of Colorado, I know firsthand how important access to capital is for the success of a small business. The majority of capital for small businesses is concentrated in urban areas, and access to capital for rural small businesses can be difficult to come by. H.R. 4281 would require the SEC's Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation to identify any unique challenges that rural-area small businesses have in securing access to capital and require the Small Business Advocate to provide updates on its findings in its annual report. Small businesses are the lifeblood of communities across our country, providing jobs and services to those they serve, and this legislation will help hardworking small businesses in rural communities to continue to create jobs and grow their businesses. I would also like to give my support to Representative Sinema's and Representative Poliquin's bill, the Senior Safe Act, here today. H.R. 3758 takes important steps to safeguard our senior citizens from fraud and abuse by encouraging covered financial institutions to train supervisors, compliance officers, or legal advisers on how to spot and report predatory activity against senior citizens. This legislation also protects banks, credit unions, investment advisers and broker-dealers and their employees from civil or administrative liability when reporting fraudulent activity related to senior citizens if an employee is properly trained and reports such activity ``in good faith'' and ``with reasonable care.'' This group of bills will make important and impactful changes for our communities, and I am pleased to see them considered here on the floor today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Poliquin), a member of the Financial Services Committee.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Maine.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TIPTON

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4292) to reform the living will process under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, as amended.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the living wills process, as mandated under the Dodd- Frank Act for systemically important financial institutions and designated nonbank financial companies, has become a heavily burdensome process for the institutions subjected to it. Section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act requires bank holding companies with total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more to annually submit detailed plans to the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that describe the company's strategy for rapid and orderly resolution under the Bankruptcy Code in the event of its material financial distress or failure. The Federal Reserve and the FDIC have near total discretion in deciding whether a plan is acceptable, and, therefore, whether an institution will be subject to heavy penalties. Mr. Zeldin's legislation, the Financial Institution Living Will Improvement Act, will do just that: improve the regulatory process for both sides of the living will assessment. This bipartisan legislation will provide needed change by limiting the frequency of the living wills process to a 2-year cycle, requiring regulators to publicly disclose the framework used to be able to review resolution plans, and requiring feedback on resolution plans within 6 months of the date they were submitted. Mr. Speaker, the regulators themselves--members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the FDIC--have suggested before Congress that reforms should be made to the living wills process. Recognition from those running the process that the living wills framework needs to be reformed demonstrates the necessity of Mr. Zeldin's bill. Mr. Zeldin's legislation, which was voted out of the Financial Services Committee unanimously, takes steps toward effectiveness and efficiency in this process, and I urge my colleagues to support this measure here today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Zeldin), a member of the Financial Services Committee and the sponsor of the legislation.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. TIPTON

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4792) to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to expand access to capital for small businesses affected by hurricanes or other natural disasters, and for other purposes.

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.