Committee Passes 12 Bills to Benefit Consumers, Investors and Vulnerable Families
Washington,
September 20, 2019
Today, the House Financial Services Committee passed 12 bills to benefit consumers, investors, and vulnerable families, including six bipartisan measures. The legislation passed by the Committee included: The Investor Protection and Capital Markets Fairness Act (H.R.4344), a bill by Representative Ben McAdams (D-UT), that would substantially strengthen the authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to recover the wrongful gains of securities law violators for investors. The bill passed the Committee by a bipartisan vote of 49-5. The Tribal Eligibility for Homeless Assistance Grants Act of 2019 (H.R. 4029), a bill by Representative Denny Heck (D-WA), to address homelessness among Native Americans and Alaska Natives by making tribes and tribally designated housing entities eligible for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grant funding. The bill passed the Committee by voice vote. The Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act (H.R. 4300), a bill by Representative Madeleine Dean (D-PA), that would help to ensure that youth who are aging out of foster care and are at risk of homelessness will have critical assistance to help them achieve housing stability and self-sufficiency. The bill passed the Committee by a unanimous, bipartisan vote of 47-0. The Homeless Assistance Act (H.R. 4302), a bill by Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA), which would allow public housing agencies to share client level data with local governments and nonprofit service providers, and help them to identify people who experience homelessness and frequently use multiple services and systems. The bill passed the Committee by a unanimous, bipartisan vote of 49-0. The Alternative Data for Additional Credit FHA Pilot Program Reauthorization Act (H.R. 123), a bill by Representative Al Green (D-TX), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which creates a pilot program at the Federal Housing Administration to test the benefits of offering consumers the option to choose a credit scoring model that incorporates additional credit rating information. The bill passed the Committee by a vote of 32-22. The North America Development Bank Improvement Act (H.R. 132), a bill by Representative Henry Cuellar (D-TX), that would authorize the U.S. to participate in a capital increase for the Bank to support environmental infrastructure projects along the U.S.-Mexico border. The bill passed the Committee by a vote of 32-23. The Financial Inclusion in Banking Act (H.R. 4067), a bill by Representative David Scott (D-GA), which requires the Consumer Bureau to study how to better address the needs of underbanked, unbanked and underserved communities. The bill passed the Committee by a unanimous, bipartisan vote of 55-0. The Protecting Innocent Consumers Affected by a Shutdown Act (H.R. 4328), a bill by Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the Committee on Financial Services, which restricts credit furnishers and the consumer credit reporting agencies from including adverse financial information resulting from a government shutdown in the credit profiles of government workers, contractors and others affected by the shutdown for the duration of a shutdown plus 90 days. The bill passed the Committee by vote of 32-22. The Greater Accountability in Pay Act (H.R. 4242), a bill by Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), that would require public companies to disclose the pay raise percentage of its executives and of its median-pay employees over the past year and compare these percentages to the rate of inflation. The bill passed the Committee by a vote of 32-21. The 8-K Trading Gap Act (H.R. 4335), a bill by Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Chair of the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets, that would fix a loophole in our securities laws to prevent corporate insiders from profiting based on nonpublic information. The bill passed the Committee by a unanimous, bipartisan vote of 52-0. The ESG Disclosure Simplification Act (H.R. 4329), a bill by Representative Juan Vargas (D-CA), that would require public companies to disclose information on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices. The bill passed the Committee by a vote of 31-22. The Corporate Management Accountability Act (H.R. 4320), a bill by Representative Katie Porter (D-CA), that would require public companies to disclose their policies on whether senior executives or shareholders bear the costs of paying the company’s fines and penalties, in order to help prevent the cost of fines being passed off to investors. The bill passed the Committee by a vote of 31-22. |