H.R. 2798

CFPB Transparency and Accountability Reform Act

This bill changes the structure, funding, and rulemaking procedures of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The bill removes the bureau from the Federal Reserve System and reestablishes it as an independent agency. The bill also changes the leadership structure by establishing a five-person commission led by a chair rather than a director as under current law. The bill eliminates the bureau's ability to receive funding through transfers from the Federal Reserve and brings the bureau under the regular appropriations process. The bill also establishes a separate inspector general for the bureau. Currently, the bureau is under the supervision of the Federal Reserve's Inspector General.

Additionally, the bill creates within the bureau the Office of Economic Analysis that must review all proposed and existing guidance, orders, rules, and regulations. In the course of a rulemaking, the office must publish an assessment of all anticipated direct and indirect costs and benefits of the proposed regulation and of any reasonable alternatives. As part of the required analysis under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, the bureau must describe the impact on small businesses of proposed and final rules and a justification for the rejection of any alternatives.

Finally, the bill requires the bureau to provide awards to whistleblowers who report information resulting in monetary sanctions.