Resolution Authority: Voting Rules

Presently both the new Financial Stability Oversight Counsel and the Federal Reserve Board must each vote to recommend action under the resolution authority, and each must do so by a 2/3 vote. More over, the Secretary then must decide if a petition actually will be filed.

This structure seems overly cumbersome, and essentially means that all three actors must agree before the resolution authority can be invoked. This might create problems in the future – for example, imagine a Secretary that objected to ever invoking the resolution authority.

Solution: Make the “and” into an “or” with regard to recommending action:  either the Counsel or the Board can recommend action by a 2/3 vote. And allow the two acting in unison to override the Secretary and file a petition with the Panel. The Secretary can have standing to object in front of the Panel.