The Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative (CeRI) is partnering with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to facilitate public participation in rulemaking to implement the Dodd-Frank Act. CeRI's Regulation Room, a participation website, will enable individuals and small businesses to learn about and discuss CFPB's proposed residential mortgage consumer protection rules. Regulation Room will bring information gleaned from public participation to the CFPB for consideration in finalizing the rules.

"CFPB has been a true innovator in using technology to reach out to the public. We are excited to begin working with them to build an online community of informed consumers who can participate meaningfully in the process of making new consumer financial protection regulations," said Cynthia Farina, professor of law at Cornell Law School and CeRI principal researcher.

CFPB's newest proposed rules would require mortgage companies to change practices that have resulted in mistaken or unnecessary foreclosures. The proposed rules focus on ensuring that consumers receive accurate, timely information about the status of their home mortgages, and help borrowers who are in trouble. Regulation Room will seek consumer reaction to several CFPB forms redesigned to be more user friendly.

"We want to get comments from as many people as possible, and in particular to reach out to regular consumers and smaller providers," said Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "We believe that doing so will lead to better mortgage servicing rules and, more generally, will generate valuable insight into ways to improve our rulemaking process on all fronts."

Regulation Room will also reach out to small banks, credit unions and thrifts, to ensure that lenders get a chance to explain to CFPB how the proposals would affect their operations.
"We believe that ordinary people can have a real impact on these policies, for many borrowers have personal experience with the problems CFPB is trying to solve ...," Farina said. "People can come to Regulation Room and quickly focus on what parts of CFPB's proposals most affect them or their companies. With this information, they can actually have a say in what federal law in this area will be. That's really democracy in action."