One more committee mark-up for CFPA

Oct. 29, 2009 – The Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act, H.R 3126, is slated for mark-up today by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is focusing on the bill’s impact on the Federal Trade Commission and its broad authority over consumer protection.

H.R. 3126 was amended during mark-up last week by the House Financial Services Committee.  The commerce panel could begin its work with the original bill or it could immediately approve an amendment substituting the amended version, with mark-up to follow from that.

For example, Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas, were discussing a possible manager’s amendment that would give the CFPA a five-member, bipartisan commission (instead of one director) whose members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. They’re also looking to strengthen the FTC’s enforcement authority regarding the consumer laws affecting service providers.

Currently, the bill would create a Consumer Advisory Board and a Consumer Financial Protection Advisory Board. Waxman and Barton may propose to merge the two. They’re also looking at giving the FTC authority to litigate cases where it is seeking civil penalties. The current version provides this authority to the CFPA only.

The CFPA bill amended by the House Financial Services Committee excludes from primary CFPA consumer examination authority all banks with less than $10 billion in assets and credit unions with less than $1.5 billion in assets. NAFCU opposes splitting credit unions by asset size.