HR-941-119
Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 610.
Sponsored by J. Hill (R-AR)
What it does
This bill would narrow which financial institutions must report small business lending data to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) under Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act. It would raise the reporting threshold from institutions originating more than 100 small business credit transactions per year to those originating at least 500, and would redefine "small business" from firms with up to $5 million in annual gross revenue to those with up to $1 million. It would also reset the compliance clock to three years from May 31, 2023 (the date the CFPB's final rule was issued), followed by a two-year penalty-free safe harbor period.
Who benefits
Smaller community banks, credit unions, and non-bank lenders that originate fewer than 500 small business loans per year — they would be fully exempt from reporting requirements. Businesses with annual revenues between $1 million and $5 million that would no longer be classified as "small businesses" under the rule, potentially reducing scrutiny of lending decisions affecting them. Financial institutions of all sizes that would gain additional time to build compliance infrastructure. Rural lenders and smaller regional institutions that tend to have lower loan origination volumes.
Who is hurt
Small businesses with revenues under $1 million that rely on fair lending data to identify and challenge discriminatory credit practices — they would have less data available. Civil rights and fair lending advocacy organizations that use Section 1071 data to monitor lending disparities. Businesses with revenues between $1 million and $5 million that would lose the protections associated with "small business" classification under the rule. Researchers, journalists, and regulators who use lending data to assess credit market access. The CFPB itself would have a narrower data set for enforcement purposes.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that the CFPB's original 100-transaction threshold imposes disproportionate compliance costs on small community lenders — including rural banks and credit unions — that lack the data infrastructure of large financial institutions, potentially driving them out of small business lending altogether. They contend that the $5 million revenue definition of "small business" is overly broad and that focusing reporting on higher-volume lenders and truly small businesses produces more targeted, actionable data while protecting the lenders most embedded in local economies.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that raising the threshold from 100 to 500 transactions would exempt the vast majority of lenders from reporting, gutting the data collection that Congress specifically mandated in Section 1071 of Dodd-Frank to identify discriminatory lending patterns against women-owned and minority-owned businesses. They contend that narrowing the "small business" definition to $1 million in revenue would exclude millions of businesses from fair lending protections, and that the extended compliance timeline further delays oversight that has already been litigated and delayed for years.
Constitutional context
Section 1071 of Dodd-Frank rests on Congress's Commerce Clause authority to regulate credit markets. The CFPB's implementing rule faces active post-Loper Bright scrutiny, as courts now independently assess whether agency rules stay within their statutory authorization rather than deferring to the agency's interpretation — meaning any future CFPB adjustments to this rule would face heightened judicial review.
Checks and balances
Congress would narrow the CFPB's regulatory reach by statute, reducing the executive branch's data collection authority; the CFPB retains enforcement power over institutions that remain subject to the rule, and courts retain authority to review the agency's implementation under the post-Loper Bright independent judgment standard.
Historical precedent
Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act (2010) originally mandated this small business lending data collection; the CFPB's implementing rule was finalized in May 2023 after more than a decade of delay and has been subject to ongoing litigation, including a stay issued by a federal court in Texas.