InfoBytes Blog
CFPB updates status on data collection rulemaking
On November 22, the CFPB filed its seventh status report in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California as required under a stipulated settlement reached in February 2020 with a group of plaintiffs, including the California Reinvestment Coalition, related to the collection of small business lending data. The settlement (covered by InfoBytes here) resolved a 2019 lawsuit that sought an order compelling the Bureau to issue a final rule implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires the Bureau to collect and disclose data on lending to women and minority-owned small businesses. The newest status report states that the Bureau has met its deadlines under the stipulated settlement, which included issuing its long-awaited proposed rule (NPRM) in September. As covered by a Buckley Special Alert, the NPRM would require a broad swath of lenders to collect data on loans they make to small businesses, including information about the loans themselves, the characteristics of the borrower, and demographic information regarding the borrower’s principal owners. This information would be reported annually to the Bureau and published by the Bureau on its website. Comments on the NPRM are due January 6, 2022. Among other things, the Bureau notes in its status report that once the Section 1071 NPRM comment period concludes, it will meet and confer with plaintiffs to discuss an “appropriate deadline” for issuing the final rule, consistent with the stipulated settlement.
Find continuing Section 1071 coverage here.