H.R. 1063 — Farm Credit Administration Independent Authority Act

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Farm Credit Administration Independent Authority Act.”

This section establishes a new small farmer loan data collection requirement under the Farm Credit Act of 1971 (12 U.S.C. 2001 et seq.). It requires Farm Credit System institutions, under regulations issued by the Farm Credit Administration (FCA), to request that loan applicants and borrowers who are small farmers disclose their race, sex, and ethnicity; collect and maintain the information; and report it annually to the FCA. As background, the Farm Credit System is a nationwide network of borrower-owned lenders that provides credit to farmers, ranchers, and aquatic producers. This section directs the FCA to collect the data submitted by Farm Credit System institutions and make it publicly available on an annual basis, while prohibiting the FCA from requiring institutions to infer or assign race, sex, or ethnicity based on visual observation, surname, or any other method when a customer declines to self-report. It also prohibits the FCA from including personally identifiable information in public reports. The section applies only to applications received and loans made 1 year or more after enactment.

This section revises the Equal Credit Opportunity Act’s enforcement provision for credit score disclosure requirements by excluding entities supervised by the Farm Credit Administration from the category of entities subject to that subsection. (Thus, Farm Credit Administration-supervised institutions would not be covered by the referenced enforcement provision in 15 U.S.C. 1691c–2(h)(1).)

This section terminates the applicability of the Farm Credit System compliance regulations if financial institutions subject to subpart B of part 1002 of title 12, Code of Federal Regulations, are no longer required to comply with the underlying rule, whether because a court invalidates the rule or the rule is otherwise repealed. (Thus, the Farm Credit System institutions would be relieved of any regulations issued under the amendments made by this Act if the comparable consumer compliance rule no longer applies to covered financial institutions.)