H.R. 1606 — Making the CFPB Accountable to Small Businesses Act of 2025

This section amends the standards for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rulemaking under Federal consumer financial law to require the agency to consider, in addition to existing factors on benefits, costs, access to financial products, covered persons, and rural consumers, the impact of proposed rules on small entities in accordance with section 609 of title 5, United States Code (i.e., initial regulatory flexibility analysis under the Regulatory Flexibility Act).

This section requires an initial regulatory flexibility analysis to include, if a covered agency does not adopt any alternatives described in 5 U.S.C. §603(c)(1)-(4) (e.g., exemptions for small entities, simplified reporting, or performance standards rather than design standards), a detailed justification—supported by factual, policy, and legal reasons—for the agency's determination that the relative size and resources of small entities should have no bearing on the rule. (As background, the Regulatory Flexibility Act requires federal agencies to prepare such an analysis for proposed rules with a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities and to consider regulatory alternatives that minimize burdens on those entities.)

This section requires covered agencies, as defined in section 609(d)(2) (i.e., certain federal financial regulators), to include in final regulatory flexibility analyses a description of steps taken to minimize any additional cost of credit for small entities and, if no significant alternatives for small entities were adopted, a detailed justification—supported by factual, policy, and legal reasons—for the agency's determination that the relative size and resources of small entities should have no bearing on the rule.