May 5, 2022

Dear USET/USET SPF Family,

The Department of the Treasury, Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (Federal Agencies) have published a Joint Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to strengthen and modernize regulations for the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA). The CRA encourages banks to help meet the credit needs of the local communities in which they are chartered. Federal banking regulatory agencies are required to examine bank records to determine if they are meeting the credit needs of the communities they serve, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

The CRA NPRM includes a section specifically pertaining to Indian Country titled, “Activities in Native Land Areas”, which can be viewed on pages 96-103 of the NPRM. This section proposes new definitions for Native Land Areas and poses questions on what additional eligibility requirements should be considered for community development activities to benefit low- or moderate-income residents of Native Land Areas.

The Federal Agencies will be hosting an interagency webinar to provide an overview of the NPRM. Details regarding the webinar are as follows—

• Date/Time: Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at 3:00pm ET
• Click Here to Register

USET SPF submitted comments to the Department of the Treasury, Office of the Comptroller General on March 9, 2020. Our comments supported the inclusion of Indian Country in proposed regulations to provide financial institutions with clarity on the types of activities that count for CRA credit and how those activities would be measured. USET SPF submitted additional comments to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on February 16, 2021. These comments responded to an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to modernize the regulatory and supervisory framework of the CRA and address the financial shortfalls of capital access and investment in Indian Country.

Comments on the current CRA NPRM are due Friday, August 5, 2022 and can be submitted to regulations.gov under Docket No. OCC-2022-0002 using the title, “Community Reinvestment Act.” For more information on this proceeding please view the Department of the Treasury, Office of the Comptroller General’s website by clicking here. To view an Interagency Fact Sheet on the CRA NPRM, please click here.

For more information, please contact Brian Howard, USET SPF Senior Policy Analyst, at bhoward@usetinc.org.

Established in 2014, the USET Sovereignty Protection Fund (USET SPF) is a non-profit, inter-Tribal organization advocating on behalf of thirty-three (33) federally recognized Tribal Nations from the Northeastern Woodlands to the Everglades and across the Gulf of Mexico. USET SPF is dedicated to promoting, protecting, and advancing the inherent sovereign rights and authorities of Tribal Nations and in assisting its membership in dealing effectively with public policy issues.