Beatty bill pushes diversity at Fed

U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty is pushing a bill that would require the Federal Reserve to interview at least one woman and one person who is a racial or ethnic minority when there is a vacancy among Federal Reserve Regional Bank presidents.

Beatty, D-Jefferson Township, is a member of the House Financial Services Committee. She’s cosponsored the bill with Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the Financial Services Committee Ranking Member, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich, Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., and Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla.

Beatty said no African-American or Latino has ever held the position of Federal Reserve Regional Bank President and only six women have served in the role in the Fed’s 103-year history.

The bill is modeled after the National Football League's"Rooney Rule," which was instituted in 2003 to increase diversity among top positions in the league. Under that rule, at least one minority must be considered for any head coach and general manager vacancy.

Established in 1913, over the course of the Federal Reserve's existence, there have been 134 different presidents of Regional Banks. Of those 134 presidents, not one has been African-American or Latino-with the first non-white president not occurring until 2009, according to Beatty’s office. Currently, eight of the 12 Federal Reserve Regional Banks have never had a woman president, and only six women have ever served in the role. The first woman did not become Regional Bank President until 1982.


This article first appeared on the Columbus Dispatch's website on October 5, 2016.