
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 42USC3541]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
         CHAPTER 44--DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
 
Sec. 3541. Paperwork reduction


(a) Declaration of policy

    The Congress finds and declares--
        (1) that various departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of 
    the Federal Government with responsibilities involving housing and 
    housing finance programs, require, approve, use or otherwise employ 
    a variety of different forms as residential mortgages (or deeds of 
    trust or similar security instruments) as notes secured by those 
    mortgages, and for applications, appraisals and other purposes, and 
    that such duplication of forms constitutes a paperwork burden that 
    adds to the costs imposed on the Nation's homeowners and home 
    buyers;
        (2) that unnecessary paperwork impairs the effectiveness of 
    Federal housing and housing finance programs;
        (3) that both single-family and multi-family programs are 
    affected; and
        (4) that simplification of paperwork imposed by Federal housing 
    and housing finance programs would contribute to achieving the 
    Nation's housing goals by reducing housing costs.

(b) Uniform legal and other forms for use by agencies in housing 
        programs

    (1) Not later than October 1, 1980, the Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs shall, consistent with provisions of law governing the 
conduct of housing programs, employ in their respective programs--
        (A) uniform single-family and multi-family note and mortgage 
    forms;
        (B) a uniform application form for mortgage approval and 
    commitment for mortgage insurance;
        (C) a uniform form for computation of the monthly net effective 
    income of applicants;
        (D) a uniform property appraisal form;
        (E) a uniform settlement statement which shall satisfy the 
    requirements of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 
    [12 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.]; and
        (F) such other consolidated or simplified forms, particularly 
    those which solicit identical or nearly identical information from 
    the same persons in the conduct of two or more such programs, the 
    consolidation or simplification of which the Secretaries of Housing 
    and Urban Development and Agriculture and the Secretary of Veterans 
    Affairs mutually agree would contribute to a reduction in the 
    paperwork and regulatory burden of such programs.

    (2) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Secretary of 
Agriculture, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, consistent 
with provisions of law governing their respective programs, provide by 
regulation for the elimination of forms which solicit information which 
is already available from other available sources through indexing or 
other means of identifying such forms.
    (3) Each agency referred to in subsection (b) of this section may 
employ riders, addenda, or similar forms of modification agreements to 
adapt such uniform forms to its respective programs and policies, 
consistent with the goals of minimizing the use and extent of such 
modification agreements and maximizing the suitability of such forms for 
the use of all participants, public and private.

(c) Coordination and reports by Director of Office of Management and 
        Budget

    The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall coordinate 
and monitor the development and implementation by Federal departments 
and agencies of the efforts required by subsection (b) of this section 
and shall report to the Congress on such development and implementation 
and with respect to any provisions of law which unnecessarily prevent 
such departments and agencies from carrying out the provisions of this 
section as part of each report required under Public Law 93-556. Such 
report shall include an estimate of the reduction of the level of 
paperwork burden hours of the affected agencies as allocated by the 
Office of Management and Budget.

(Pub. L. 95-557, title IX, Sec. 905, Oct. 31, 1978, 92 Stat. 2126; Pub. 
L. 96-153, title III, Sec. 328, Dec. 21, 1979, 93 Stat. 1121; Pub. L. 
98-479, title II, Sec. 204(n)(4), Oct. 17, 1984, 98 Stat. 2234; Pub. L. 
102-54, Sec. 13(q)(10), June 13, 1991, 105 Stat. 281.)

                       References in Text

    The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974, referred to in 
subsec. (b)(1)(E), is Pub. L. 93-533, Dec. 22, 1974, 88 Stat. 1724, as 
amended, which is classified principally to chapter 27 (Sec. 2601 et 
seq.) of Title 12, Banks and Banking. For complete classification of 
this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 2601 of 
Title 12 and Tables.
    Public Law 93-556, referred to in subsec. (c), is Pub. L. 93-556, 
Dec. 27, 1974, 88 Stat. 1789, which is set out as a note under section 
3501 of Title 44, Public Printing and Documents.

                          Codification

    Section was not enacted as part of the Department of Housing and 
Urban Development Act which comprises this chapter.


                               Amendments

    1991--Subsec. (b)(1), (2). Pub. L. 102-54 substituted ``Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs'' for ``Administrator of Veterans' Affairs'' wherever 
appearing.
    1984--Subsec. (b)(1)(E). Pub. L. 98-479 inserted ``of 1974'' after 
``Act''.
    1979--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 96-153 reenacted subsec. (a) without 
change.
    Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 96-153 substituted, in provision preceding par. 
(1)(A), ``Not later than October 1, 1980, the Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Administrator 
of Veterans' Affairs shall, consistent with provisions of law governing 
the conduct of housing programs,'' for ``Insofar as it is practicable 
and to the extent that such action would result in a reduction in 
paperwork and regulatory burden, the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development and the Veterans' Administration shall'', inserted reference 
to Secretary of Agriculture in par. (1)(F), added par. (2), redesignated 
former par. (2) as (3), and struck out former par. (3), which authorized 
the President to require the Farmers Home Administration and 
Administrator of the Farmers Home Administration to comply with the 
requirements of this section if such compliance would contribute to a 
reduction in the paperwork and regulatory burden of housing and housing 
finance programs administered by that agency.
    Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 96-153 inserted provision requiring the reports 
to include an estimate of the reduction of the level of paperwork burden 
hours of the affected agencies as allocated by the Office of Management 
and Budget.
