Brandon Williams: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. I would also like to thank my colleague, Ms. Moore, for her hard work on this. I…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. I would also like to thank my colleague, Ms. Moore, for her hard work on this. I appreciate it. H.R. 2643, the State Licensing Efficiency Act, will expand the State's ability to use a federally accepted registry, the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System, to expedite background checks. For many State-licensed financial service providers, the current background check process is inefficient, but this registry has a proven track record of being effective while also reducing regulatory burden. Under the SAFE Act, the current NMLS, developed by State banking commissioners, has been used to oversee the mortgage industry since 2008. To date, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors has channeled over 1.3 million fingerprint checks of mortgage loan originators. Citing an absence in Federal law, the FBI has prevented its use to conduct background checks for other financial services, including money transmitters, debt collectors, pawnbrokers, and check cashers. Whereas a State wishing to conduct a criminal background check through traditional means may wait several weeks and sometimes even months for their response, NMLS communicates directly with the FBI and often receives the same results, as we have heard, in just 24 hours. H.R. 2643 would expand the current system to include those financial service providers who are already licensed by the State and require a Federal background check.…”