Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) recently released the highly anticipated text from their housing finance reform proposal. As expected, the 442-page proposal—officially labeled as a discussion draft incorporates measures from both Democratic and Republican members of the committee, the administration, and third-party stakeholders. The proposal follows a similar structure to the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act (S. 1217), which was introduced last summer by Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Bob Corker (R-TN) and supported by four Democratic and four Republican members of the committee.

According to Chairman Johnson and Ranking Member Crapo, a markup will be held “in the coming weeks.” However, a few senators have expressed that they would like a legislative hearing before markup. Between now and markup, industry and consumer groups will have an opportunity to engage the committee and negotiate some details of the proposal. Given the potentially small window of opportunity, stakeholders must act now to protect measures that may be of interest since the proposal is likely to provide a framework for future reform efforts.