PAPERWORK REDUCTION EXCERPTS FROM HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT [Public Law 95-557; 92 Stat. 2126; 42 U.S.C. 3541] PAPERWORK REDUCTION SEC. 905. (a) 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 constitute 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)(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 form; (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: 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 for other available sources through indexing or other means of identifying such forms. (3) Each agency referred to in subsection (b) 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) 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) 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. [42 U.S.C. 3541] RECORDS AND AUDITS REQUIRED IN CONNECTION WITH LOANS, ADVANCES, GRANTS, OR CONTRIBUTIONS (BYRD AMENDMENT) EXCERPT FROM HOUSING ACT OF 1954 [Public Law 560, 83d Congress; 68 Stat. 647; 42 U.S.C. 1434] RECORDS SEC. 814. Every contract between the Department of Housing and Urban Development and any person or local body (including any corporation or public or private agency or body) for a loan, advance, grant, or contribution under the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, the Housing Act of 1949, as amended, or any other Act shall provide that such person or local body shall keep such records as the Department of Housing and Urban Development shall from time to time prescribe, including records which permit a speedy and effective audit and will fully disclose the amount and disposition by such person or local body of the proceeds of the loan, advance, grant, or contribution, or any supplement thereto, the capital cost of any construction project for which any such loan, advance, grant, or contribution is made, and the amount of any private or other non-Federal funds used or grantsin-aid made for or in connection with any such project. No mortgage covering new or rehabilitated multifamily housing (as defined in section 227 of the National Housing Act, as amended) shall be insured unless the mortgagor certifies that he will keep such records as are prescribed by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development at the time of the certification and that they will be kept in such form as to permit a speedy and effective audit. The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Comptroller General of the United States shall have access to and the right to examine and audit such records. This section shall become effective on the first day after the first full calendar month following the date of approval of the Housing Act of 1961. [42 U.S.C. 1434] FRAUD AND FALSE STATEMENTS EXCERPTS FROM TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE § 1001. Statements or entries generally Whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact, or makes any false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or representations, or makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious or fradulent statement or entry, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. * § 1010. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Federal Housing Administration transactions Whoever, for the purpose of obtaining any loan or advance of credit from any person, partnership, association, or corporation with the intent that such loan or advance of credit shall be offered to or accepted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for insurance, or for the purpose of obtaining any extension or renewal of any loan, advance of credit, or mortgage insured by such department, or the acceptance, release, or substitution of any security on such a loan, advance of credit, or for the purpose of influencing in any way the action of such Department, makes, passes, utters, or publishes any statement, knowing the same to be false, or alters, forges, or counterfeits any instrument, paper, or document, or utters, publishes, or passes as true any instrument, paper, or document, knowing it to have been altered, forged, or counterfeited, or willfully overvalues any security, asset, or income, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. * § 1012. Department of Housing and Urban Development transactions Whoever, with intent to defraud, makes any false entry in any book of the Department of Housing and Urban Development or makes any false report or statement to or for such Department; or Whoever receives any compensation, rebate, or reward, with intent to defraud such Department or with intent unlawfully to defeat its purposes; or Whoever induces or influences such Department to purchase or acquire any property or to enter into any contract and willfully fails to disclose any interest which he has in such property or in |