Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 117.djvu/1210

 PUBLIC LAW 108–100—OCT. 28, 2003

117 STAT. 1191

SEC. 17. STATISTICAL REPORTING OF COSTS AND REVENUES FOR TRANSPORTING CHECKS BETWEEN RESERVE BANKS.

12 USC 5016.

In the annual report prepared by the Board for the first full calendar year after the date of enactment of this Act and in each of the 9 subsequent annual reports by the Board, the Board shall include the amount of operating costs attributable to, and an estimate of the Federal Reserve banks’ imputed revenues derived from, the transportation of commercial checks between Federal Reserve bank check processing centers. SEC. 18. EVALUATION AND REPORT BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL.

(a) STUDY.—During the 5-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall evaluate the implementation and administration of this Act, including— (1) an estimate of the gains in economic efficiency made possible from check truncation; (2) an evaluation of the benefits accruing to consumers and financial institutions from reduced transportation costs, longer hours for accepting deposits for credit within 1 business day, the impact of fraud losses, and an estimate of consumers’ share of the total benefits derived from this Act; and (3) an assessment of consumer acceptance of the check truncation process resulting from this Act, as well as any new costs incurred by consumers who had their original checks returned with their regular monthly statements prior to the date of enactment of this Act. (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Before the end of the 5-year period referred to in subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall submit a report to the Congress containing the findings and conclusions of the Comptroller General in connection with the evaluation conducted pursuant to subsection (a), together with such recommendations for legislative and administrative action as the Comptroller General may determine to be appropriate. SEC. 19. DEPOSITARY SERVICES EFFICIENCY AND COST REDUCTION.

12 USC 5017. Effective date.

Deadline.

12 USC 5018.

(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows: (1) The Secretary of the Treasury has long compensated financial institutions for various critical depositary and financial agency services provided for or on behalf of the United States by— (A) placing large balances, commonly referred to as ‘‘compensating balances’’, on deposit at such institutions; and (B) using imputed interest on such funds to offset charges for the various depositary and financial agency services provided to or on behalf of the Government. (2) As a result of sharp declines in interest rates over the last few years to record low levels, or the public debt outstanding reaching the statutory debt limit, the Department of the Treasury often has had to dramatically increase or decrease the size of the compensating balances on deposit at these financial institutions. (3) The fluctuation of the compensating balances, and the necessary pledging of collateral by financial institutions to secure the value of compensating balances placed with those institutions, have created unintended financial uncertainty for

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