Press Releases

Little Rock, Ark. — Yesterday, Rep. French Hill (AR-02) introduced HR. 6306, the Immediate Funds Availability Act in response to the COVID-19 outbreak across the United States. This legislation would increase the amount of funds that bank customers are able to receive and would require them to be made available immediately. Under current law, banks are required to provide only $200 in cash from funds received and do not need to provide it until the next business day. They then must wait another business day to get any additional funds. This means that if a bank customer deposits a $1,000 check on a Friday, they might not be able to get the full amount of funds until the following Tuesday. The Immediate Funds Availability Act would increase the available funds to $1,500 and would allow them to access the funds in real-time. If signed into law, this legislation would be triggered only by a state-declared public health emergency and would sunset after three years.

“In these times of crises, it’s important that Arkansans can access their money at a moment’s notice. Even under normal circumstances, I have heard from central Arkansans that the delay in available funds is a significant financial burden. This is only heightened during these critical times. It is imperative that our citizens are able to have direct access to their funds,” said Rep. Hill. “We need to work with the banks, and all do our part in figuring out to how ease financial strains caused by this current pandemic.”

The full text of H.R. 6306 can be found HERE.