83 FR 14605 - Notice of Regulatory Review

FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 66 (April 5, 2018)

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is issuing a notice of a regulatory review to be conducted in accordance with the process set forth in its Regulatory Review Plan published in February 2012, and requesting comments on how its regulations may be made more effective and less burdensome.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 66 (Thursday, April 5, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 14605-14606]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-06918]


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Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 66 / Thursday, April 5, 2018 / 
Proposed Rules

[[Page 14605]]



FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

12 CFR Chapter XII

[No. 2018-N-03]


Notice of Regulatory Review

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: Request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is issuing a notice 
of a regulatory review to be conducted in accordance with the process 
set forth in its Regulatory Review Plan published in February 2012, and 
requesting comments on how its regulations may be made more effective 
and less burdensome.

DATES: Written comments on this notice of regulatory review must be 
received no later than June 4, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit your comments, identified by ``Regulatory 
Review [No. 2018-N-03]'', by any of the following methods:
     Agency Website: www.fhfa.gov/open-for-comment-or-input.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. If you submit your 
comment to the Federal eRulemaking Portal, please also send it by email 
to FHFA at [email protected] to ensure timely receipt by FHFA. 
Please include ``Regulatory Review [No. 2018-N-03]'' in the subject 
line of the message.
     U.S. Mail, United Parcel Service, Federal Express, or 
Other Mail Service: The mailing address for comments is: Alfred M. 
Pollard, General Counsel, Attention: Comments/Regulatory Review [No. 
2018-N-03], Federal Housing Finance Agency, Constitution Center, (OGC) 
Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 20219.
     Hand Delivered/Courier: The hand delivery address is: 
Alfred M. Pollard, General Counsel, Attention: Comments/Regulatory 
Review [No. 2018-N-03], Federal Housing Finance Agency, Constitution 
Center, (OGC) Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 
20219. Deliver the package to the Seventh Street entrance Guard Desk, 
First Floor, on business days between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
    All comments received will be posted without change on FHFA's 
website at http://www.fhfa.gov, and will include any personal 
information provided, such as name, address (mailing and email), and 
telephone numbers. In addition, copies of all comments received will be 
available for examination by the public through the electronic 
rulemaking docket for this proposed rule also located on the FHFA 
website.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen S. Bailey, Managing Associate 
General Counsel, [email protected], (202) 649-3056 (this is not a 
toll-free number), Federal Housing Finance Agency, Constitution Center, 
(OGC) Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 20219. The 
telephone number for the Telecommunications Device for the Hearing 
Impaired is (800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background; FHFA's Regulatory Review Plan

    FHFA was established by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 
2008, Public Law 110-289, to supervise and regulate the Federal 
National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan 
Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (together, the Enterprises), the 
Federal Home Loan Banks (the Banks), and the Office of Finance of the 
Federal Home Loan Bank System (OF). In 2012, FHFA developed its 
Regulatory Review Plan (Review Plan) after considering principles set 
forth in Executive Order 13579, ``Regulation and Independent Regulatory 
Agencies'' (July 11, 2011).\1\ Executive Order 13579 requested--but did 
not require--independent regulatory agencies, such as FHFA, to develop, 
release to the public, and implement a plan for the periodic review of 
their existing significant regulations to determine whether any 
regulation should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed to 
make the agency's regulatory program more effective or less burdensome 
in achieving its objectives.
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    \1\ 77 FR 10351 (Feb. 22, 2012) (FHFA Regulatory Review Plan); 
see also 76 FR 41585 (July 14, 2011) (E.O. 13579).
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    Under its Review Plan, FHFA reviews its regulations at least every 
five years, except for those regulations that were adopted or 
substantially amended within the two years prior to issuance of a 
Notice of Regulatory Review and rules of agency organization, 
procedure, or practice. The Review Plan suggests factors that 
commenters should consider to assist FHFA, including factors related to 
legal, regulatory, or market developments, regulatory overlap, less 
burdensome alternatives, and clarity of regulatory requirements.

II. Results of the 2013 Regulatory Review

    FHFA's first regulatory review was initiated by a Notice of 
Regulatory Review and request for comments in April 2013,\2\ and 
considered 44 regulations. FHFA received two comment letters: a joint 
letter from all of the Banks that addressed the Affordable Housing 
Program, capital regulation, liabilities, and new business activities, 
and a letter from a state-chartered credit union on compliance 
requirements for organizations that deliver loans for sale to Fannie 
Mae and Freddie Mac, but that did not identify any particular 
regulation for revision. FHFA also conducted an internal review of its 
regulations that were subject to the five-year Review Plan, seeking 
staff input on the same questions on which the Review Notice sought 
public comment.
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    \2\ 78 FR 23507 (Apr. 19, 2013).
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    FHFA evaluated all of the comments that it received and determined 
that some amendments were warranted. Recent rulemakings to amend FHFA's 
regulations on new business activities and affordable housing programs 
of the Banks included proposed amendments that addressed concerns 
raised in the Banks' joint comment letter.\3\ Revised liquidity 
guidance, which was also requested by the Banks, is under development.
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    \3\ For revisions to the regulation on New Business Activities 
of the Banks, see 81 FR 57499, 57500-02 (Aug. 23, 2016) (Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking) and 81 FR 91690 (Dec. 19, 2016) (Final Rule), 
amending 12 CFR part 1272. For proposed amendments to the Affordable 
Housing Program (AHP) regulation, see 83 FR 11344 (Mar. 14, 2018), 
which would amend 12 CFR parts 1290 and 1291.

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[[Page 14606]]

III. FHFA's 2018 Regulatory Review; Request for Comment

    Consistent with its Review Plan, FHFA's next regulatory review must 
begin not later than five years after its prior review, or by March or 
April 2018. All current regulations--except, as noted, rules of agency 
organization, procedure, or practice, or regulations adopted or 
substantially amended since April 2016 (meaning, within the past two 
years)--are subject to review. Members of the public may comment on 
recently adopted or amended regulations, and FHFA will take those 
comments into account as appropriate. FHFA does not anticipate 
responding to individual comments.
    FHFA's regulations are published in Chapter XII of Title 12 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations, except for those regulations of 
predecessor agencies which FHFA has not yet moved.\4\ FHFA's 
regulations are also posted on the FHFA internet website at http://www.fhfa.gov.
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    \4\ FHFA currently administers three regulations that are not 
rules of agency organization, procedure, or practice that are 
located outside of Chapter XII. These are a regulation of the former 
Federal Housing Finance Board on Federal Home Loan Bank Capital 
Requirements, at 12 CFR part 932; a regulation of the former Office 
of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight on Enterprise Capital, at 12 
CFR part 1750; and a regulation of the Department of Housing and 
Urban Development on public-use databases and public information 
provided by the Enterprises, at 24 CFR part 81, subpart F. FHFA 
proposed amending the Bank Capital Requirements regulation in 2017 
(82 FR 30776 (July 3, 2017)), and is taking comments received on 
that proposal into account to develop a final rule. FHFA will not 
delay publication of that final rule based solely on this regulatory 
review. The Enterprise Capital Requirements regulation has been 
suspended. See FHFA News Release, ``FHFA Announces Suspension of 
Capital Classifications'' (Oct. 9, 2008). FHFA is currently 
developing a proposed rule on public-use databases and public 
information provided by the Enterprises and will solicit comments 
when that notice of proposed rulemaking is published.
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    FHFA hereby requests comment on its regulations for purposes of 
improving their effectiveness and reducing their burden. Factors that 
FHFA's Review Plan identifies as relevant to the review, and which FHFA 
suggests should guide commenters, are:
    (1) Legal or regulatory developments--including new laws, executive 
orders, or judicial decisions that have been adopted since the 
promulgation of a regulation--that make a regulation inefficient, 
obsolete, contrary to controlling legal precedent, or unduly 
burdensome;
    (2) Marketplace developments, technological evolution, and related 
changes that may have rendered a regulation, in whole or in part, 
inefficient, outmoded, or outdated;
    (3) The extent to which provisions of the regulation are written in 
plain language or need clarification;
    (4) Compelling evidence that a consolidation of two or more 
regulations, elimination of a duplicative regulation, or other revision 
to regulatory requirements would facilitate compliance by Fannie Mae, 
Freddie Mac, the Banks, or OF with the regulation, or would improve 
supervision by FHFA of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Banks, or OF; and
    (5) Demonstration of a better alternative method to effect a 
regulatory purpose or requirement, supported by compelling evidence of 
significantly less intrusive means or of a substantially more efficient 
method of accomplishing the same supervisory purpose.
    In accordance with FHFA's Review Plan, the 2018 regulatory review 
process will be conducted by the FHFA Office of General Counsel, which 
will review all comments received. FHFA's Office of General Counsel 
consults with other FHFA offices and divisions. A review and report of 
findings and recommendations will be provided to the FHFA Director on a 
timely basis. The report of findings and recommendations will be 
privileged and confidential. After receiving the report of findings and 
recommendations, the Director will determine what steps may be 
necessary to relieve any unnecessary burden, including amendment to or 
repeal of existing regulations or issuance of less formal guidance.
    The 2018 FHFA regulatory review is not a formal or informal 
rulemaking proceeding under the Administrative Procedure Act, and 
creates no right of action against FHFA. FHFA's determination whether 
to conduct or not to conduct a review of a regulation and any 
determination, finding, or recommendation resulting from any review is 
not a final agency action and therefore is not subject to judicial 
review.

    Dated: March 30, 2018.
Melvin L. Watt,
Director, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
[FR Doc. 2018-06918 Filed 4-4-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8070-01-P