42 U.S.C. § 3541 : US Code - Section 3541: Paperwork reduction

Search 42 U.S.C. § 3541 : US Code - Section 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.