The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) sent a petition to the leaders of the Senate Banking Committee urging them to take action on its Plan for Prosperity regulatory relief platform.
The petition includes signatures from more than 10,000 community bank employees and advocates united in support of ICBA’s blueprint to promote localized lending and job growth.
In the petition, sent to committee leaders Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), chairman, and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), ICBA applauded recent statements from the lawmakers advocating community bank relief from mortgage regulations.
“ICBA and the thousands of citizens who signed the petition supporting relief are counting on the committee to act expeditiously and deliver on this bipartisan commitment,” ICBA wrote.
The association continues working with Congress to advance Plan for Prosperity provisions through all available legislative channels.
The Plan for Prosperity outlines a pro-growth community bank agenda by championing, among other things, regulatory relief.
Specifically, it calls upon lawmakers to balance consumer regulation through more inclusive and accountable Consumer Financial Protection Bureau governance, eliminate arbitrary “disparate impact” fair lending lawsuits, ensure the viability of mutual banks through new charter and capital options, and support rigorous cost-benefit analyses of all new rules to determine if they are justified and indeed needed. The plan also seeks to modernize the Bank Secrecy Act, cut the red tape in small business lending by eliminating burdensome data collection, target the Volcker Rule on a bank’s individual risk, and preserve access to investment advice for middle-class savers.
It also supports greater access to capital, mortgage reform, tax relief, and measures that help agriculture and rural America.