Main Street Capital Access Act
Sponsored By: Representative Hill (AR)
In Committee
Summary
easier formation and tailored rules for small and rural banks. This bill would make it simpler for small, rural, and de novo banks to form and operate by phasing in capital requirements and creating tailored supervisory paths. It would also force faster, more transparent exams and new independent review rights for supervised institutions.
Show full summary
- Community and rural banks: Newly insured depository institutions would get a 3-year phase-in of federal capital requirements and a Rural Community Depository Institution leverage ratio for institutions with assets up to $10 billion. Limited-scope exams and changes to the Community Bank Leverage Ratio aim to ease regulatory burden for qualifying community banks.
- Examinations and agency transparency: Federal agencies would have strict timetables for exams, including a 270-day completion rule and faster final reports, must publish summaries of determinations, add a clear guidance statement that guidance is not binding, and provide institutions a de novo independent review of material supervisory decisions.
- Systemic, merger, and resolution rules: Several enhanced-regulation triggers would rise to $370 billion and be indexed to nominal GDP, mergers that create banks under $10 billion would generally not face competition review, and the FDIC could select constrained non-least-cost resolution options to avoid sales to very large global banks under set conditions.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
9 provisions identified: 6 benefits, 0 costs, 3 mixed.
Faster, clearer exams and appeals
If enacted, federal banking agencies would have strict timelines: finish exams within 270 days, hold exit interviews within 30 days, and give final reports within 90 days. Banks could ask the Federal Reserve Board for a de novo review of material supervisory findings within 60 days, and agencies must provide requested exam materials quickly. The bill would create an independent Office of Examination Review and require agencies to respond to written permission requests within set timeframes and publish redacted summaries. Agencies would also adopt clearer, objective CAMELS rating rules with public comment.
Review and fix the Fed discount window
If enacted, the Federal Reserve would review its discount window programs within 60 days and finish the review in 240 days. The review must examine liquidity, technology, cybersecurity, coordination, operating hours, stigma, and other issues. The Fed would publish a remediation plan with timelines and report to Congress within 365 days, then give annual progress reports until the plan is implemented.
FDIC resolution and board changes
If enacted, the FDIC could choose a resolution option that is not the least costly to the Deposit Insurance Fund if doing so limits concentration in a global systemically important bank, subject to a maximum allowable DIF cost set by rule within one year. The FDIC would require purchaser assessments over at least five years in some sales. The bill would also change FDIC Board appointments to require state and community-bank experience and set term limits. Merchant-banking investments would face a minimum 15-year holding period.
Lighter exams for small and rural banks
If enacted, banks and credit unions that are well managed, well capitalized, and have $6 billion or less in assets would get a limited-scope exam after a full on-site review. Rural depository banks (under $10 billion and in a rural area) would get a phased Community Bank Leverage Ratio (CBLR) as low as 7.5% for three years. Banks eligible for the CBLR must file short-form call reports for the first and third reports each year. Newly insured banks would get a three-year phase-in of federal capital rules, and agencies would publish annual reports on charter and deposit-insurance application volumes and processing times.
More tools to keep deposits local
If enacted, the FDIC would allow reciprocal deposits placed through an agent to count as non-brokered up to tiered limits: 50% of an agent's liabilities for the first $1 billion, 40% on the next $9 billion, and 30% on amounts between $10 billion and $250 billion. That non-brokered treatment would require the agent bank to have a CAMELS rating of 1, 2, or 3. The FDIC would also study reciprocal deposits and report to Congress within six months.
Tailor rules and boost community voice
If enacted, federal financial agencies would have to tailor new rules to the risk profiles and business models of affected institution types and explain how they did so in every rule. Agencies must review rules tied to statutes from the prior 15 years and finish any needed revisions within 3 years. The Fed Board would also designate a member with community-bank experience to focus on policy and supervision for banks under $17 billion and appear twice a year before Congress on those efforts.
Faster merger reviews, higher indexed limits
If enacted, agencies would have to tell applicants within 30 days if filings are complete and grant or deny within 90 days or the application would be deemed approved. Inspectors General and GAO would study merger commitments and procedures. Agencies would not consider monopoly or competition effects for mergers that would create banks with under $10 billion in assets. The bill would also require annual indexing of certain dollar thresholds to nominal U.S. GDP so those numeric limits rise with the economy.
Stress-test rules and limits on climate tests
If enacted, the Federal Reserve would have 90 days to publish a rule describing models, assumptions, and methods used in section 165(i) stress tests and would have to disclose each test scenario at least 60 days before the test. Material methodology changes would need notice-and-comment. The GAO would study stress tests every three years. The bill would also bar the Fed from running climate-related stress tests under section 165(i).
Annual reports on global regulator work
If enacted, the Board of Governors and the OCC would report each year on their participation in international financial forums. Reports would describe membership, purpose, funding, positions taken, and public documents for any final policies or recommendations.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Hill (AR)
AR • R
Cosponsors
Barr
KY • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Huizenga
MI • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Lucas
OK • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Sessions
TX • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Wagner
MO • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Williams (TX)
TX • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Emmer
MN • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Loudermilk
GA • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Davidson
OH • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Rose
TN • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Steil
WI • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Timmons
SC • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Stutzman
IN • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Norman
SC • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Meuser
PA • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Kim
CA • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Donalds
FL • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Garbarino
NY • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Fitzgerald
WI • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Flood
NE • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Lawler
NY • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
De La Cruz
TX • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Ogles
TN • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Nunn (IA)
IA • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
McClain
MI • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Salazar
FL • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Downing
MT • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Haridopolos
FL • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Moore (NC)
NC • R
Sponsored 1/7/2026
Kennedy (UT)
UT • R
Sponsored 1/12/2026
Knott
NC • R
Sponsored 1/22/2026
Calvert
CA • R
Sponsored 3/9/2026
Fedorchak
ND • R
Sponsored 3/26/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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