This week in Legislation...

From our Legislative Relations Committee. 

 

Week of November 30

 

·       This week, both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate are in session for legislative business. However, neither chamber is expected to consider student financial aid-related legislation.

·       Today at 8:30 a.m., the Federal Reserve holds an open meeting to discuss implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act amendments to the emergency lending authority under Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act. The meeting will be broadcast live on the Federal Reserve website.

 

·       From Tuesday to Friday, all-day, the U.S. Department of Education hosts its annual Federal Student Aid (FSA) Training Conference for Financial Aid Professionals, the largest training program serving the financial aid community in the country, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This year’ssessions will focus on recent and anticipated regulatory changes and other important matters, including gainful employment, compliance with the Cleary Act, experimental sites, the FSA complaint system, challenges and appeals of cohort default rates, default management plans, third-party servicers, updates on assigning Perkins Loans to the Department, financial literacy, a servicing update, consumer disclosure requirements and tools, state authorization, cybersecurity initiatives and data protection, and income-driven repayment plans. For more information on the conference’s agenda, seehttp://fsaconferences.ed.gov/program15.html. NCHER staff will be in attendance at the conference and will provide periodic updates.

 

·       On Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., the Center for American Progress holds a discussion entitled, “Exploring the Geography of Student Debt,” which will present research that maps student debt concentration and distribution across income and geographies. Panelists include: Subira Gordon, Legislative Analyst, Connecticut African-American Affairs Commission; Natalie Higgins, Executive Director, Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts; Tom Israel, Executive Director, Montgomery County Education Association; Whitney Barkley, Legislative Policy Counsel, Center for Responsible Lending; Maggie Thompson, Campaign Manager, Higher Ed Not Debt; Kavya Vaghul, Research Analyst, Washington Center for Equitable Growth; and Rohit Chopra, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress. For details and to register, click here.

·       On Tuesday at 8:00 p.m., Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard gives a speech entitled, “Lower Neutral Rate and its Implications for Monetary Policy,” at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Associates Meeting in Stanford, CA.

 

·       On Wednesday, all-day, the Federal Reserve and other federal banking regulators hold the sixth in a series of outreach meetings to review their regulations under the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996. The law requires federal financial services regulators to review their regulations every 10 years. This meeting, held at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in Washington, DC, includes opening remarks by Daniel Tarullo, Governor, Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve System; Martin Gruenberg, Chairman, FDIC; and Thomas Curry, Comptroller of the Currency; Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; and panel discussions on consumer protections, capital-related rules, application reporting, banking operations regulations, securities, money laundering, safety and soundness, and rules of procedure regulations.

 

·       On Wednesday at 12:00 p.m., Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gives the keynote address at a luncheon hosted by the Economic Club of Washington where she will address the nation’s economic outlook.

·       On Wednesday at 2:00 p.m., the Federal Reserve releases its Beige Book. Eight times a year, the Fed releases its Beige Book, a summary of current economic conditions for the 12 Federal Reserve Districts based on anecdotal information gathered through reports from Bank and Branch Directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources.

 

·       On Thursday at 10:00 a.m., the Joint Economic Committee holds a hearing entitled, “The Economic Outlook.” The sole witness will be Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

 

·       On Thursday at 2:00 p.m., insideARM hosts a free webinar entitled, “Follow Up: Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Ruling’s Leading Risk Mitigation Approaches and Concerns.” Earlier this year, insideARM held the industry’s first conference focusing on first party collections and outsourcing. One of the most popular sessions covered the impacts of the latest FCC ruling on both in-house and outsourced operations. This follow up webinar will take a deeper dive into the arising best practices and concerns, focus on the FCC’s latest expansion of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and help prepare strategy for consumer cell phone contact. Panelists include: John Bedard, Owner, Bedard Law Group; Mark Mallah, Corporate Counsel, LiveVox, Inc.; and Dusty Whitesell, Senior Vice President, LiveVox, Inc.