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McHenry, Luetkemeyer Slam Beneficial Ownership Final Rule

Washington, Sep 29 -

Today, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, Patrick McHenry (NC-10), and the top Republican on the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions, Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03), released the following statement regarding the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) final rule to implement the new beneficial ownership reporting regime.

“FinCEN’s final rule regarding beneficial ownership remains fundamentally inconsistent with Congressional intent,” said the Republican Leaders. “This rule is overly broad and injects unnecessary complexity by taking 10 pages of legislative text and turning it into a more than 300-page final rule. While FinCEN took small steps to address some of the concerns we highlighted in our March letter, there is still a significant gap between the final rule and the framework outlined in the statute. Congress crafted legislation to minimize the impact on legitimate small businesses, while balancing civil liberties and the needs of law enforcement. It’s clear this final rule misses the mark.”

Background:

On December 3, 2020, Republican Leader McHenry issued a statement after the bipartisan beneficial ownership conference agreement included in the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which provides the strongest protections in the history of small businesses’ beneficial ownership data collection, passed the House.

On April 7, 2021, Republican Leaders McHenry and Luetkemeyer sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging FinCEN to adhere to Congressional intent when developing and implementing the new beneficial ownership reporting regime.

On March 2, 2022, Republican Leaders McHenry and Luetkemeyer sent a comment letter to Treasury Secretary Yellen and acting FinCEN Director Himamauli Das highlighting numerous concerns with the Treasury Department’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirements, including that it’s too complex, too broad, and significantly deviates from Congressional intent. The lawmakers also demanded the rulemaking’s impact on small businesses be minimal.

At an April 28, 2022, hearing with acting FinCEN Director Das, Republican Leader McHenry demanded that small businesses be protected from overly burdensome beneficial ownership regulations and called for transparency regarding FinCEN’s collection of Americans’ financial data.

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