Washington, D.C. (May 3, 2017)—The Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA)today expressed support for legislation introduced by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)to help community banks promote economic and job growth by relieving them ofunnecessary regulatory burdens. The CLEAR Relief Act of 2017 (S. 1002)—thecompanion to House legislation introduced by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer(R-Mo.)—includes several provisions from ICBA’s pro-growth Planfor Prosperity regulatory relief platform.
Moran today signed and introduced the billalongside a group of Kansas community bankers in Washington for the 2017 ICBACapital Summit, who accompanied Moran in dropping the legislation at the billclerk’s desk for formal introduction. Senate Banking Committee members HeidiHeitkamp (D-N.D.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are originalcosponsors on the bill.
“The CLEAR Relief Act would help communitybanks meet the needs of their customers and promote local economic growth byproviding common-sense relief from many crushing regulatory burdens,” ICBAPresident and CEO Camden R. Fine said. “ICBA thanks Sen. Moran and stronglyurges Congress to advance this bipartisan legislation to enhance economic andjob growth in local communities.”
The CLEAR Relief Act promotes regulationstiered to the size and complexity of regulated institutions, includingprovisions that would:
- exempt community bank portfolio loans from a variety of new mortgage rules, including “qualified mortgage” and escrow regulations,
- exempt community banks with less than $10 billion in assets from the Volcker rule,
- provide a regulatory safe harbor for good-faith compliance with the the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule, and
- provide relief from costly and duplicative Sarbanes-Oxley section 404(b) internal control reporting and attestation requirements for community banks with assets of $1 billion or less.
ICBA looks forward to continuing to work withmembers of the House and Senate to advance the CLEAR Relief Act and otherregulatory relief measures from the association’s Plan for Prosperity.
About ICBA
The Independent Community Bankers of America®, the nation’s voice for morethan 5,800 community banks of all sizes and charter types, is dedicatedexclusively to representing the interests of the community banking industry andits membership through effective advocacy, best-in-class education and high-qualityproducts and services. For more information, visit ICBA’s website at www.icba.org.