Press Releases

For Immediate Release: August 3, 2004

TRIPARTISAN GROUP SEEKS MOVEMENT ON LEGISLATION TO OVERTURN OCC'S PREEMPTION AND VISITORIAL REGULATIONS

WASHINGTON -- A tripartisan group of Members of the House Financial Services Committee recently urged the chairman of the committee to address the expansion of power by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and to allow Members the opportunity to fully debate and vote on the issue.

"The question of the interaction between federal and state law, especially regarding consumer protection, is too important for Congress to ignore," said the Committee's Ranking Member Barney Frank (D-Mass.).

In a letter to House Financial Services Chairman Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) and Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, the Members of Congress requested that the Financial Services Committee mark up and report to the floor Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez' (D-Ill.) legislation to overturn the OCC's preemption and visitorial regulations.

"Many Members are concerned that these regulations not only represent a drastic expansion of the OCC's power, they exceed the OCC's congressionally granted preemption authority," the Members wrote.

"All we are asking for is the opportunity to debate this issue through the regular legislative process and to allow Members the chance to vote up or down on this important legislation," said Rep. Gutierrez, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. "I believe that we have a responsibility to protect strong safeguards that have been used by the states for more than a century to enforce consumer protection laws and to prevent the OCC from eroding these proven practices."

A copy of the letter is attached.

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The Committee oversees all components of the nation's housing and financial services sectors including banking, insurance, real estate, public and assisted housing, and securities. The Committee continually reviews the laws and programs relating to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and international development and finance agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The Committee also ensures enforcement of housing and consumer protection laws such as the U.S. Housing Act, the Truth In Lending Act, the Housing and Community Development Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Community Reinvestment Act, and financial privacy laws.