Justification for Non-Substantive Change

"COMMUNITY SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS"
OMB NUMBER 2590-0005
REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF A NON-SUBSTANTIVE REVISION

Request for Approval:
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking OMB approval for a revision to its
Community Support Statement Form (Form 60), which OMB re-approved in 2013 as part of its
approval of FHFA’s “Community Support Requirements” information collection (OMB control
no. 2590-0005; expiration date 02/29/2016). The agency seeks to revise the first sentence of the
second paragraph of the Form 60 instructions, which currently reads “Part I (CRA Factor):
Members subject to CRA may complete this section,” to read “Part I (CRA Factor): Members
subject to CRA shall complete this section.” (Emphasis added to highlight revision). Although
this revision appears at first glance to change a reporting option into a reporting requirement, for
the reasons discussed below, FHFA believes that it constitutes a non-substantive change that can
be approved by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) without FHFA first
undertaking a full PRA clearance process, and requests OMB approval of the revision as a nonsubstantive change.
Basis for Assertion that Revision is Non-Substantive:
Section 10(g)(1) of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) requires the Director of FHFA
to promulgate regulations establishing standards of community investment or service that
Federal Home Loan Bank (Bank) member institutions must meet in order to maintain access to
long-term Bank advances.1 The Bank Act requires that, in establishing these community support
requirements for Bank members, FHFA take into account, among other factors, the member’s
performance under the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA).2 FHFA’s community
support regulation, which establishes standards and review criteria for determining compliance
with section 10(g) of the Bank Act, is set forth at 12 CFR part 1290.
Part 1290 requires most Bank members to maintain a CRA rating of “Outstanding” or
“Satisfactory” in order to meet the community support requirement and imposes sanctions upon
members whose CRA rating falls short of those ratings.3 To monitor compliance with this
requirement, the regulation specifies that FHFA shall select a member for community support
review approximately once every two years and that each member selected for community
support review must submit to FHFA a completed Form 60 executed by an appropriate senior
officer, as well as any other necessary supporting documentation.4 The regulation further
specifies that, in reviewing Form 60, FHFA shall take into account a member's performance
under the CRA if the member is subject to the requirements of the CRA,5 and that FHFA will
1

See 12 U.S.C. § 1430(g)(1).
12 U.S.C. § 2901 et seq.
3
See 12 CFR § 1290.5.
4
See 12 CFR § 1290.2(a), (c).
5
See 12 CFR § 1290.3(a).
2

COMMUNITY SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS: OMB NUMBER 2590-0005
REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF A NON-SUBSTANTIVE REVISION

deem the form to be complete only when it has obtained all of the information required by part
1290.6
In sum, part 1290 requires each member that is selected for review to report its CRA rating on
Form 60. In its supporting statement submitted to OMB in conjunction with the most recent
clearance of the Community Support Requirements collection, FHFA stated in response to
question #1 that “[i]n section I of the form, a member that is subject to the CRA must record its
current CRA rating and the date of its most recent CRA evaluation.” (Emphasis added). Thus,
FHFA believes that OMB approved the collection with the understanding that reporting the CRA
rating on the form was not optional, but required, and that the requested change constitutes a
non-substantive correction under the PRA that may be approved by OMB without requiring
FHFA to undertake the full clearance process.

6

See 12 CFR § 1290.4(a).

2