Legislative Activity

This Week’s Hearings:

  • Tuesday, November 19: The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing titled, “A General Overview of Disparate Impact Theory.” This hearing will review the legal and theoretical underpinnings of disparate impact theory and explore the consequences of its application in various contexts, such as housing and lending policy.
  • Tuesday, November 19: The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance will hold a hearing titled, “Implementation of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Act of 2012: Protecting Taxpayers and Homeowners.”
  • Tuesday, November 19: The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Housing Finance Reform: Fundamentals of Transferring Credit Risk in a Future Housing Finance System.”
  • Tuesday, November 19: The Senate Banking Subcommittees on Economic Policy, and National Security and International Trade and Finance, will hold a hearing on, “The Present and Future Impact of Virtual Currency.”
  • Wednesday, November 20: The House Financial Services Committee will hold  a markup of the following bills:
    • H.R. 2385, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Pay Fairness Act of 2013
    • H.R. 2446, the Responsible Consumer Financial Protection Regulations Act of 2013
    • H.R. 2571, the Consumer Right to Financial Privacy Act of 2013
    • H.R. 3183, a bill to provide consumers with a free annual disclosure of information the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection maintains on them.
    • H.R. 3193, the Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act of 2013
    • H.R. _____, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013
  • Wednesday, November 20: The Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protecting will hold hearing titled, “Regulating Financial Holding Companies and Physical Commodities.”
  • Thursday, November 21: The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises will hold a hearing on, “A Legislative Proposal to Amend the Securities Investor Protection Act.” The proposal to be examined is H.R. 3482, the “Restoring Main Street Investor Protection, and Confidence Act.”
  • Thursday, November 21: The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Housing Finance Reform: Powers and Structure of a Strong Regulator.”
  • Friday, November 22: The Senate Banking Committee plans to hold a hearing titled, “Housing Finance Reform: Developing a Plan for a Smooth Transition.”

Regulatory Activity

President Names New Nominee to CFTC

Last week, President Barack Obama named Timothy Massad as his nominee to be the next Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Mr. Massad currently serves at the Department of the Treasury as Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability. In this role, Mr. Massad is responsible for overseeing the implementation and wind down of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). President Obama has already named Christopher Giancarlo to fill to Republican seat vacated by Jill Sommers, and it is rumored that New York lawyer, Sharon Bowen, is being vetted to fill the Democratic seat that will be vacated by Bart Chilton.

This Week’s Meetings:

  • Friday, November 22:  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold a meeting of its Dodd-Frank Investor Advisory Committee (IAC). The agenda for the meeting includes remarks from SEC Commissioners, a recommendation of the Investor as Purchaser Subcommittee regarding a fiduciary duty standard for broker-dealers, a recommendation of the Investor as Purchaser Subcommittee regarding legislation to fund investment adviser examinations, selection of dates for future IAC meetings, and nonpublic subcommittee meetings.