For a second straight year, U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-CO3, has introduced the Taking Account of Institutions with Low Operation Risk (TAILOR) Act, a bill that would ease regulatory compliance for smaller community banks and credit unions.

While a Congressional Budget Office estimate last year pegged Tipton’s bill as costing an estimated $20 million, Tipton said by requiring federal regulatory agencies to tailor regulations to fit the business model and risk profile of institutions instead of imposing one-size-fits-all mandates across the board, HR1116 would allow community banks and credit unions to focus more of their resources on providing services to customers and growing their businesses. The bill would also free up resources for federal regulators to better focus oversight efforts on higher risk institutions, he added in a news release.

“Under Dodd-Frank rules, banks and credit unions are currently regulated under a one-size-fits-all approach regardless of size or risk profile. As a result, regulations designed and intended for big banks are also applied to small community and independent banks or credit unions,” Tipton said in the release. “The compliance costs associated with these one-size-fits-all mandates are often unworkable for small community banks, which often don’t have the employees or resources to meet the compliance obligations.”

Tipton added that regulations play an important role in keeping communities safe and secure, but they should be tailored to meet the risk profile and business model of specific institutions. The TAILOR Act would allow federal regulators to better focus their oversight efforts, he said, and allow small banks and credit unions to focus their time and assets on investing in their communities, helping to generate economic growth and job opportunities.

In another news release, American Bankers Association Executive Vice President James Ballentine said Tipton’s bill would help address “the huge flow of new regulations that have made it more difficult for banks to meet the needs of consumers and small businesses as well as local and regional economies. Regulators should be empowered – and directed – to make sure that rules, regulations and compliance burdens only apply to segments of the industry where warranted.”

On a 34-22 vote, the TAILOR Act received support from a bipartisan group of 112 U.S. Representatives in the 114th Congress. The bill was approved by the House Financial Services Committee twice in 2016 and was again referred to that committee this year.

The Congressional Budget Office report to the committee last year that estimated Tipton’s bill would increasedirect spending by $20 million in 2017, also said that spending over the 2017-2026 period would be “insignificant.” The office estimated that enacting the bill would reduce revenues by $24 millionover that same period.

Reviewing rules issued by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission would cost $10 million over the 2017-2021 period, subject to available appropriated funds, while enacting the legislation would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits by more than $5 billion in any of four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.