Here's The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform And Consumer Protection Act

As we previously reported, the Wall Street Reform legislation has emerged from the House-Senate conference committee. The conference report -- that is, the legislation that the two houses will now be asked to okay -- is 2315 pages. It's called the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act after Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank, who spearheaded the legislation. (They are pictured to the right with President Obama.)

Here is every last word of the bill. If you don't have time for every page right now, just check out this handy comprehensive 10-page summary.  Go here to read the legislation title by title. Title X is the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, which establishes the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the brainchild of Prof. Elizabeth Warren (pictured below).

Senator Franken Condemns 5-4 Decision in Rent-a-Center v. Jackson

On the Senate floor, Senator Al Franken condemned the Supreme Court’s decision in Rent-A-Center v. Jackson (in which a 5-4 majority of the Court upheld the power of arbitration agreements to remove even threshold questions of validity from review by a court) and discussed how the case of Jamie Leigh Jones illustrates the effect of cases like Circuit City Stores v. Adams. 

“Clearly this is a ruling that Congress needs to fix and I look forward to working with my colleagues to do so,” said Franken. “Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Supreme Court matters to average people, to our neighbors and our kids."

 

More Details on the Financial Reform Legislation Conference Deal

As we explained yesterday, a deal on the financial reform legislation has been reached by the House-Senate conference committee. The bill must now go back to each chamber for final passage of the conference-approved deal and signature by President Obama. Today's Washington Post has several useful articles: this overview;  this piece discussing consumer advocates' reactions to the legislation; and this interactive guide that explains how the legislation would work in five key areas: consumer protection; too big to fail; derivatives; risk to the financial system; and regulator shopping.

The Supreme Court and Arbitration: Bad News for Consumers

Alan Morrison of GW Law School (and former Director of Public Citizen's Litigation Group) has just written this piece for the ACS blog condemning the Supreme Court's recent decisions under the Federal Arbitration Act and arguing that Congress will probably have to step in and fix the situation -- sooner rather than later. Definitely worth reading.

Transparency (or Not) at OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Rena Steinzor, a University of Maryland law professor and President of the Center for Progressive Reform, has written this blog post condemning what she views as a lack of transparency at the powerful Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Management at Budget. Among other things, OIRA reviews agencies' proposed regulations before they are published for public comment, conducting cost-benefit analyses and the like. Steinzor's piece suggests that OIRA under President Obama is less transparent than it was under President Bush and that some of its transparency failures violate a 1993 executive order governing OIRA transparency.

Financial Reform Deal Reached at Dawn

The Associated Press reports that, on party line votes -- 20 to 11 in the House and 7 to 5 in the Senate -- House and Senate conferees have in the wee hours this morning reached a final deal on the financial reform legislation. The Washington Post reports here. The New York Times here and here. More details later.

Times Report on Yesterday's CFPA/B Conference

Here.  Looks like the auto dealers will be excluded from the bill and the agency will be housed within the Fed.  But the FTC is to have an easier time regulating car dealers (and perhaps promulgating regulations generally?).  The article also implies that the CFPB's decisions will not be subject to overruling by bank regulators.  If you have a more complete report, please post it or a link in the comments.

Op-ed on the Auto Dealer Carve-Out in the CFPA/B

My essay is here, in Politico.

More on Financial Reform Legislation

Yesterday, Jeff Sovern blogged on the House conferees' "offer" on the consumer financial reform bureau provisions of the financial reform legislation. The House offer on all provisions of the legislation can be found here.

In the same vein, today's Washington Post reports on the thorny issues that remain among the conferees and the deal that they have reached on "swipe" fees -- that is, limits on fees credit and debit card issuers can charge retailers.

Older Drivers Are Driving More -- and More Safely

The Washington Post reports that older drivers are driving more and having fewer accidents. The Post explains:

Older people are driving more, crashing less and their fatal accident rate has dropped by 37 percent. The biggest drop of all -- 47 percent -- came among drivers over the age of 80. This all emerged in a study released Tuesday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an insurance industry group whose research benefits from both federal highway statistics and data collected by the companies whose policies cover the cost of accidents.

The Insurance Institute's study is here.