Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Federal Reserve Accountability Act of 2022”.
Federal Reserve Accountability Act of 2022
A BILL
To amend the Federal Reserve Act to provide greater accountability to the Federal Reserve System, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Appointment of general counsel
Subsection (l) of section 11 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248) is amended by inserting “The President shall appoint a general counsel for the Board, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Sections 3345 through 3349b of title 5, United States Code, shall not apply to the general counsel.” after the period at the end of the first sentence.
Sec. 3 Appointment of Federal Reserve bank presidents
In general— The fifth paragraph of the fourth unenumerated paragraph of section 4 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 341) is amended—
in the first sentence, by striking “president, vice presidents,” and inserting “vice presidents”;
in the second sentence, by striking “Class B and Class C directors of the bank, with the approval of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, for a term of 5 years” and inserting “President of the United States (by and with the advice and consent of the Senate) for a term of 5 years”;
by striking the third sentence and inserting “The first vice president of the bank shall be appointed by the Class B and Class C board of directors of the bank for a term of 5 years, and shall, in the absence or disability of the president or during a vacancy in the office of the president, serve as chief executive officer of the bank, until a nominee for president is confirmed by the Senate or the President of the United States appoints an acting president under sections 3345 through 3349b of title 5, United States Code.”;
in the fourth sentence, by striking “the president or ”;
by inserting “A president may continue to serve after the expiration of the term of office to which the president was appointed until the earlier of the date on which a successor has been appointed and qualified, the date on which the next session of Congress subsequent to the expiration of such term expires, or the date on which the President of the United States removes the president. No appointed president shall serve more than a total of 10 years, not including any such continuation in service.” after the period at the end of the fourth sentence; and
by inserting “The president shall have their primary residence and principal place of business located in that Federal Reserve district for not fewer than 4 years before the date on which the President nominates the individual to be president of the Federal Reserve bank for that Federal Reserve district.” after the period at the end of the fifth sentence, as added by paragraph (5) of this subsection.
Suspension or removal of officers— Section 11(f) of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248(f)) is amended by inserting “(except the president)” after “reserve bank”.
Applicability— Sections 3345 through 3349b of title 5, United States Code, shall apply to presidents of Federal Reserve banks in the same manner as officers of Executive agencies.
Sec. 4 Federal reserve districts
In general— Section 2 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 222) is amended by striking the first undesignated paragraph and inserting the following:
“The continental United States shall be divided into 5 Federal Reserve districts. The First Federal Reserve District shall be composed of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands, with the city of New York, New York, as the location of the Federal Reserve bank. The Second Federal Reserve District shall be composed of Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the District of Columbia, with the city of Cleveland, Ohio, as the location of the Federal Reserve bank. The Third Federal Reserve District shall be composed of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana, with the city of Kansas City, Missouri, as the location of the Federal Reserve bank. The Fourth Federal Reserve District shall be composed of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida, with the city of Dallas, Texas, as the location of the Federal Reserve bank. The Fifth Federal Reserve District shall be composed of California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, with the city of San Francisco, California, as the location of the Federal Reserve bank. Every national bank in any State shall, upon commencing business, become a member bank of the Federal Reserve System by subscribing and paying for stock in the Federal Reserve bank of its district in accordance with the provisions of this Act and shall thereupon be an insured bank under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, and failure to do so shall subject such bank to the penalty provided by the sixth paragraph of this section.”
Federal Open Market Committee— Section 12A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 263) is amended by striking subsection (a) and inserting the following:
“(a) There is hereby created a Federal Open Market Committee (hereinafter referred to as the “Committee”), which shall consist of the members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the chief executive officers of the 5 Federal Reserve banks.”
Technical and conforming amendments—
Section 11 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248) is amended by striking subsection (e).
Section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 413) is amended, in the third sentence, by striking “twelve” and inserting “5”.
Sec. 5 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Section 10 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 241) is amended—
in the second sentence, by striking “one of whom shall be selected from” and inserting “2 of whom may be residents of”; and
by inserting “In this paragraph, the term resident of any one Federal Reserve district means an individual whose primary residence and principal place of business has been located in a Federal Reserve district for not fewer than 4 years before the date on which the President nominates the individual as a member of the Board.” after the period at the end of the fourth sentence.
Sec. 6 Lobbying with moneys
The Federal Reserve Act is amended by inserting after section 15 (12 U.S.C. 391 et seq.) the following:
“15A. Lobbying with moneys
“No part of the income, interest, fees, money, or other funds of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or any Federal Reserve bank shall, in the absence of express authorization by Congress, be used directly or indirectly to pay for any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written matter, or other device, intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress, a jurisdiction, or an official of any government, to favor, adopt, or oppose, by vote or otherwise, any legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation, whether before or after the introduction of any bill, measure, or resolution proposing such legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation; but this shall not prevent officers or employees of the Federal Reserve System from communicating to any such Member or official, at his request, or to Congress or such official, through the proper official channels, requests for any legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriations which they deem necessary for the efficient conduct of the public business, or from making any communication whose prohibition by this section might, in the opinion of the Attorney General, violate the Constitution or interfere with the conduct of foreign policy, counter-intelligence, intelligence, or national security activities. Violations of this section shall constitute violations of section 1352(a) of title 31, United States Code.”