On March 21, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) announced that it was enhancing its advisory committee charters. The announcement follows former Acting Director Mick Mulvaney’s decision in June 2018 to reduce the number of members on the committees and decrease membership terms.
Director Kathy Kraninger described these changes as a product of her three-month listening tour, which included meetings with current and former advisory committee members:
I’ve seen firsthand how the Bureau benefits from the valuable input provided by committee members. I have also seen how the joint committee meeting is resulting in members sharpening their ideas by engaging in a thorough dialogue . . . . These enhancements demonstrate my commitment to ensuring that the Bureau’s advisory committees are helping to improve our work on behalf of consumers.
Effective fiscal year 2020:
- The Consumer Advisory Board (“CAB”), Community Bank Advisory Council (“CBAC”), and Credit Union Advisory Council (“CUAC”) will increase the number of joint, public, in-person meetings from two to three times a year.
- The Academic Research Council (“ARC”) will meet separately, in-person, twice a year and will become a director-level advisory committee.
- The advisory committees will “expand their focus to broad policy matters.”
- The CFPB is extending membership terms for each committee from one to two years, and terms will be staggered. The one-year terms of existing members will expire on September 2019, but the Bureau will provide a one-year term extension to half of the current members.
- Each committee will be assigned a vice-chair in addition to the chair, and both the chair and vice-chair will serve one-year terms, with the vice-chair assuming the chair the following year.
The Bureau is accepting applications for its advisory committees until May 5, 2019. Applications to join a committee may be submitted online.