Virginia. The state assembly passed legislation on March 15 expanding the acceptance of electronic signatures in the state. The new law provides that financial disclosure forms, lobbyist registration statements and notary applications for recommission may be signed...

Arizona. The state Senate has passed S.B. 1259, which would require lenders to produce the full chain of title or risk the foreclosure sale being voided. The GOP-sponsored bill passed by a vote of 28-2 and is now being considered in the state House. The purpose of the bill is to require...

House Republicans have voted, among other things, to slash initial funding for the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection by nearly 60 percent in an effort to curb the new agency’s oversight powers over banks and nonbanks. By a vote of 235 to 180, the House passed a new continuing resolution (H.R. 1), the Full Year Continuing Appropriations Act, which would limit...

House Financial Services CommitteeBills to Shut Down Ineffective Foreclosure Programs. Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, R-AL, announced a subcommittee hearing and a full committee markup of four bills that will eliminate...

H.R. 463 has been introduced in the House of Representatives to extend the Freedom of Information Act to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during periods when they are in conservatorship or receivership, as they are now. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-UT, who introduced the bill, noted that...

The Obama administration has submitted a plan to Congress for reforming the nation’s housing finance market, including fixing the basic flaws in the mortgage financing chain. Among other things, a top administration priority for the immediate future is a series of reforms to correct problems in...

The House Financial Services Committee intends to conduct a hearing to examine the impact of the Federal Reserve’s recent regulation governing compensation to mortgage loan originators. In its oversight plan for the 112th Congress, the HFSC expressed concern that the Fed’s LO pay rules, which take effect April 1, may have an adverse impact on...

House Republicans are vowing to place financial regulators under tight scrutiny to ensure that the objectives of the new finance reform bill are being met without harmful, unintended consequences. The House Financial Services Committee placed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act under a stringent oversight plan that takes...

House Republican leaders have started to make good on a post-election promise to deconstruct the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-TX, chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, has requested...

Department of the Treasury BCFP, CSBS Agrees on Coordinated Regulation of Consumer Lenders. Government officials in charge of setting up the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection have signed an agreement with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors on a framework for cooperation and coordination...