CFPB Settles Lawsuit Regarding Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law

The CFPB settled a Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) lawsuit, which alleged that the CFPB’s 2019 Taskforce on Federal Consumer Law (the Taskforce) did not comply with FACA’s public disclosure of documents requirement.  The CFPB created the Taskforce to provide recommendations to improve consumer financial laws and regulations.  The National Association of Consumer Advocates, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, and Professor Kathleen Engel brought the lawsuit against the CFPB, alleging, among other things, that the Taskforce did not make all the records available to the public after the Taskforce released its findings. 

Under the settlement, the CFPB shall release all Taskforce records that would have been public, to the plaintiffs and on the CFPB’s website.  Further, the CFPB amended the Taskforce’s report to include a disclaimer stating that the CFPB did not comply with FACA and therefore the report should not be relied upon as a “product of a FACA-compliant federal advisory committee.”