Financial Services Committee Passes Racial Equity, Consumer Protection and Public Company Disclosure Bills

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee (the "Committee") passed legislation to advance racial equity in the financial system, improve consumer protections against abusive debt collection practices and enhance public company disclosures.

The bills included:

• the "Federal Reserve Racial and Economic Equity Act" (H.R. 2543), which imposes on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee a "duty to minimize and eliminate racial disparities" with respect "to employment, income, wealth, and access to affordable credit." Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate;

• the "Improving Corporate Governance through Diversity Act" (H.R. 1277), which amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 "to require the submission by issuers of data relating to diversity";

• the "Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act" (H.R. 2547), which enhances "consumer, student, servicemember, and small business protections with respect to debt collection practices." The bill incorporates the "Small Business Lending Fairness Act" (H.R. 3490), which "amend[s] the Truth in Lending Act to prohibit certain unfair credit practices," the "Private Loan Disability Discharge Act" (H.R. 4545), which "provide[s] for the discharge of a private education loan in the case of death or total and permanent disability of a student obligor," and the "Stop Debt Collection Abuse Act" (H.R. 4403), which "amend[s] the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to restrict the debt collection practices of certain debt collectors."

The Committee unanimously passed two resolutions reauthorizing task forces to continue examining (i) emerging technologies and finance and (ii) financial institution and market participant use of artificial intelligence.