Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 114-366.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jul 21, 2015
Community Bank Access to Capital Act of 2015
This bill directs the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): (1) to each promulgate a regulation exempting community banks from regulations implementing "Basel III: A global regulatory framework for more resilient banks and banking systems," and (2) to revise capital requirements as they determine appropriate in light of such required regulations.
A community bank is defined as one whose consolidated assets are not greater than $50 billion.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Read full official summaryShow less
The bill also exempts from the internal control attestation requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 both an insured depository institution and a depository institution holding company with consolidated assets of not greater than $1 billion.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is prohibited from adjusting under Regulation D the $1 million net worth threshold and $200,000 and $300,000 income thresholds that define a natural person as an accredited investor.
The SEC shall increase from 35 to 70 the number of purchasers of securities in transactions deemed not to involve a public offering and so are exempt from regulation under the Securities Exchange Act of 1933.
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is amended to: (1) subject a savings and loan holding company to registration requirements for securities whose issuer has total assets exceeding $10 million and a class of non-exempt equity security held of record by 2,000 or more persons; and (2) apply the automatic termination of registration, and suspension of the duty to file supplementary and periodic information, to a savings and loan holding company whose securities are found to be held by less than 1,200 persons.
Source last updated: Aug 12, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze S.1816 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine S.1816 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine S.1816 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine S.1816 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.