[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 859 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 859
To repeal the prohibition on the payment of interest on demand
deposits, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 13, 2003
Mr. Toomey (for himself, Mr. Kanjorski, Mrs. Biggert, Mr. Gonzalez, Mr.
Shays, and Ms. Hooley of Oregon) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To repeal the prohibition on the payment of interest on demand
deposits, and for other purposes.
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 ``Business Checking Freedom Act of
2003''.
SEC. 2. INTEREST-BEARING TRANSACTION ACCOUNTS AUTHORIZED.
(a) Repeal of Prohibition on Payment of Interest on Demand
Deposits.--
(1) Federal reserve act.--Section 19(i) of the Federal
Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 371a) is amended to read as follows:
``(i) [Repealed]''.
(2) Home owners' loan act.--The first sentence of section
5(b)(1)(B) of the Home Owners' Loan Act (12 U.S.C.
1464(b)(1)(B)) is amended by striking ``savings association may
not--'' and all that follows through ``(ii) permit any'' and
inserting ``savings association may not permit any''.
(3) Federal deposit insurance act.--Section 18(g) of the
Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1828(g)) is amended to
read as follows:
``(g) [Repealed]''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall
take effect at the end of the 1-year period beginning on the date of
the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
In the case of an escrow account maintained at a depository
institution in connection with a real estate transaction--
(1) the absorption, by the depository institution, of
expenses incidental to providing a normal banking service with
respect to such escrow account;
(2) the forbearance, by the depository institution, from
charging a fee for providing any such banking function; and
(3) any benefit which may accrue to the holder or the
beneficiary of such escrow account as a result of an action of
the depository institution described in subparagraph (1) or (2)
or similar in nature to such action,
shall not be treated as the payment or receipt of interest for purposes
of this Act and any provision of Public Law 93-100, the Federal Reserve
Act, the Home Owners' Loan Act, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Act
relating to the payment of interest on accounts or deposits at
depository institutions.
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