House to Take Up Reg Relief Bill Tuesday; MBA Issues ‘Call to Action’
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the House will consider a broad regulatory relief bill this Tuesday, May 22.
Ryan said the House will vote on S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2155), as passed by the Senate in March as currently written with no amendments. He told reporters last week that House and Senate leaders had reached a deal in which the House would consider S. 2155 in exchange for Senate consideration of a package of bills approved by the House Financial Services Committee.
S. 2155, introduced by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, passed with a filibuster-proof 67 votes on March 14.
Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s grassroots advocacy arm, the Mortgage Action Alliance, issued a Call to Action yesterday, urging its members to contact their representatives in support of S. 2155.
“Advocacy from our industry has helped ensure this bipartisan regulatory relief package addresses this sizable list of important issues, and we need your help again,” said MBA Senior Vice President of Legislative and Political Affairs Bill Killmer.
S. 2155 contains a number of MBA-supported provisions, including:
–SAFE Act amendments to provide 120 days of transitional authority for mortgage loan originators when leaving a depository to join a sponsoring non-bank (or when crossing state lines);
–Applying Truth in Lending Act consumer protections to PACE/energy efficiency mortgage products;
–Added safeguards to protect veterans, surviving spouses and service members who utilize the VA Home Loan program’s Interest Rate Reduction Refinancing Loan (IRRRL) product;
–An improved, more workable regulatory regime for eligibility of High Volatility Commercial Real Estate (HVCRE) construction loans; and,
–Partial TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act relief
In a March letter to the Senate, MBA said it believes that, in the aggregate, S. 2155 provides “important regulatory relief” to the housing market. “These outlined portions of the legislation will remove many of the barriers and regulatory burdens that have impacted consumers’ current access to mortgage credit,” the letter said.
For more information on the MBA Call to Action, click https://action.mba.org/mba/app/write-a-letter?0&engagementId=476433.
