In addition to the bill introduced last week by Republican Congressman Randy Neugebauer that would replace the CFPB’s director with a five-member commission, four other CFPB reform bills have been introduced by Republican Congressman Sean Duffy.  A series of similar bills were approved by the House Financial Services Committee in November 2013 and incorporated into a bill that passed the House in March 2014 but never reached a vote in the Senate.

The four bills introduced by Mr. Duffy are:

  • The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Accountability Act of 2015 (H.R. 1261) which would make the CFPB subject to the congressional appropriations process
  • The Consumer Right to Financial Privacy Act of 2015 (H.R. 1262) which would require the CFPB to notify and obtain permission from  a consumer before collecting nonpublic personal information about such consumer.  The bill would expressly make the requirement applicable to CFPB contractors collecting information on the CFPB’s behalf.
  • The Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act of 2015 (H.R. 1263) which would allow the Financial Stability Oversight Council to set aside a CFPB regulation with a majority rather than a two-thirds vote.
  • The CFPB Pay Fairness Act of 2015 (H.R. 1264) which would require the salaries of CFPB employees to be set in accordance with the regular government pay scale. (Currently, the CFPB can base salaries on the Federal Reserve Board’s higher salary schedules.)