Govwatch

Introduced

In Committee

3

Passed One Chamber

4

Passed Both

5

Signed into Law

Sponsor

Brad Finstad

Republican · MN · Representative

Votes with party: 98.5% (548 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/F000475

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (14)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Referred to the Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities, Risk Management, and Credit.

2025-03-07

Source: Congress.gov

Plain-English Summary

This bill would make the Farm Credit Administration, which oversees lending to farmers and rural businesses, more independent from direct government control. The change would likely give the agency more freedom to set its own policies and operations without as much oversight from Congress or the executive branch, similar to how some other financial regulators operate. Farmers and rural lenders who depend on Farm Credit System loans could see changes in how the agency manages credit availability and lending standards.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

Affected Industries

Industries and interest groups with a stake in how this bill is resolved. Compare with each member's outside-money backers on their finance page.

Agriculture

Why this matters: Look up any member who voted on this bill and check their finance page — do the industries listed above match the groups funding their campaigns? That's the kind of connection this tool is built to help you find.

Subjects

Agriculture and Food

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 1063 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1063 To affirm that the Farm Credit Administration is the sole and independent regulator of the Farm Credit System. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 6, 2025 Mr. Finstad (for himself, Mr. Panetta, Mrs. Miller of Illinois, Mr. Baird, Mrs. Fischbach, and Mr. Moolenaar) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To affirm that the Farm Credit Administration is the sole and independent regulator of the Farm Credit System. 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 ``Farm Credit Administration Independent Authority Act''. SEC. 2. FARMER LOAN DATA COLLECTION. (a) In General.--The Farm Credit Act of 1971 (12 U.S.C. 2001 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 4.19 the following: ``SEC. 4.20. SMALL FARMER LOAN DATA COLLECTION. ``(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to affirm that the Farm Credit Administration is the sole and independent regulator of the Farm Credit System. ``(b) Definition.--In this section, the term `small farmer' means a `small farmer, rancher, or producer or harvester of aquatic products' as defined pursuant to section 4.19. ``(c) Collection of Demographic Data by Farm Credit System Lenders.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, Farm Credit System institutions, pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Farm Credit Administration, shall-- ``(1) request that loan applicants and borrowers that are small farmers disclose information identifying their race, sex, and ethnicity; ``(2) collect and maintain the information resulting from the requests; and ``(3) report to the Farm Credit Administration on an annual basis the information collected pursuant to the requests. ``(d) Directions to the Farm Credit Administration.--The Farm Credit Administration-- ``(1) shall collect the information gathered by Farm Credit System institutions under this section and make the information available to the public on an annual basis; and ``(2) shall not require, in prescribing regulations to implement this section, that any Farm Credit System institution contradict the wishes of a customer who does not wish to voluntarily report race, sex, or ethnicity by requiring the Farm Credit System institution to report the race, sex, or ethnicity of the customer based on visual observation, surname, or any other method. ``(e) Protection of Personally Identifiable Information.--In reporting the information collected under this section, the Farm Credit Administration shall not include any information that would reveal the identify of any loan applicant or borrower. ``(f) Effective Date.--This section shall apply only to applications received and loans made 1 year or more after the date of the enactment of this section.''. SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. Section 704B(h)(1) of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. 1691c-2(h)(1)) is amended by inserting ``, other than any entity that is supervised by the Farm Credit Administration'' before the period at the end. SEC. 4. CESSATION OF COMPLIANCE. If financial institutions subject to subpart B of part 1002 of title 12, Code of Federal Regulations, are not required to comply with the rule promulgated pursuant to that subpart, whether because a court invalidates the rule or the rule is otherwise repealed, the Farm Credit System institutions shall not be required to comply with any regulation promulgated pursuant to the amendments made by this…

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