Federal Reserve Accountability and Justification Act

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3928 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3928

  To require the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve to satisfy 
   certain requirements before providing any new payment service, or 
 substantially changing or expanding any existing payment service, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 24, 2019

Mr. Riggleman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve to satisfy 
   certain requirements before providing any new payment service, or 
 substantially changing or expanding any existing payment service, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Reserve Accountability and 
Justification Act''.

SEC. 2. PAYMENT SERVICES.

    Section 11A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248a) is amended 
by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Payment Service.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Board may not provide any new 
        payment service, or substantially change or expand any existing 
        payment service unless the Board determines that--
                    ``(A) any costs associated with such service will 
                be recovered;
                    ``(B) providing such service will yield a clear 
                public benefit, such as promoting the integrity of the 
                payments system, improving the effectiveness of 
                financial markets, reducing the risk associated with 
                payments and securities-transfer services, or improving 
                the efficiency of the payments system;
                    ``(C) no other providers can be expected to provide 
                such service with reasonable effectiveness, scope, and 
                equity; and
                    ``(D) other providers are able to compete with the 
                Federal Reserve Banks in offering such service, based 
                on a competitive impact study.
            ``(2) Reasonable effectiveness, scope, and equity.--
                    ``(A) In general.--For the purposes of paragraph 
                1(A), the Board shall determine that other providers 
                can be expected to provide such service with reasonable 
                effectiveness, scope, and equity if the Board has found 
                that other providers--
                            ``(i) offer a service that substantially 
                        performs the material functions of such service 
                        that the Board would provide and offer the 
                        service to member and nonmember depository 
                        institutions on nondiscriminatory terms, 
                        regardless of the size of the institution; or
                            ``(ii) are capable within a reasonable time 
                        of offering a service that substantially 
                        performs the material functions of such service 
                        that the Board would provide and of offering 
                        the service to member and nonmember depository 
                        institutions on nondiscriminatory terms, 
                        regardless of the size of the institution.
                    ``(B) Central bank money.--The ability of the Board 
                to settle interbank obligations using balances at the 
                central bank (also referred to as central bank money) 
                shall not alone be sufficient to support a 
                determination by the Board that other providers alone 
                cannot be expected to provide such service with 
                reasonable effectiveness, scope, and equity.
            ``(3) Exception.--The service offered by the Board known as 
        the `Federal Funds Wire Service' is not subject to the 
        requirements of this subsection.
            ``(4) Final rule.--The Board shall publish in the Federal 
        Register, in accordance with section 553 of title 5 of the 
        United States Code, a final rule that states any determination 
        made pursuant to paragraph (1) and explains the basis for such 
        determination.
            ``(5) Judicial review.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Any person adversely affected or 
                aggrieved by a failure of the Board to properly make a 
                determination under this subsection before providing a 
                new payment service or substantially changing or 
                expanding an existing payment service is entitled to 
                judicial review thereof.
                    ``(B) Deference.--A court may not give deference to 
                the Board when conducting a review under this 
                paragraph.''.
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