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March 4, 2005
e-Legislative Update
The
Georgia General
Assembly was in session only three days this week, but they have been
extremely active on a number of issues important to banking.
Next week, the Legislature will be in Session Wednesday through
Saturday. Click
here to read
this week’s e-Legislative Update which covers topics of interest to
bankers that received action this week:
- Banking Department Bills Receives Final Nod
- Mortgage Fraud Bill Reported out of House Committee
- Gift Card Bill Passes Senate
- Corporate Income Tax Bill May Need Further Work
- Change in Tax Apportionment Bill on Governor’s Desk
- Bill Allowing Trust Flexible Income Investments Passes House
- Two Credit Insurance Bills Pass Senate
- Bill Being Held Increasing Financing Authority for Local Projects
Complete coverage of the
39 bills GBA is monitoring is on the 2005
State Issues page.
HR Institute a Success
Almost 60 human resource professionals from around
the state gathered this week on St. Simons Island to spend three days
discussing industry best practices in their field.
Top notch keynote speakers and peer group discussions were highlights
of the event. The
HR
Institute was created two years ago by the GBA
Human Resources Committee
when they combined our annual Human Resources Conference and our biannual
Human Resource University into an annual event.
For those bankers seeking their HR certification, the event was
approved for 10.25 hours of continuing education credit.
Our thanks to Committee Chair, Martin Dunlap,
Riverside
Bank, Marietta, and Committee Vice Chair, Sue Cone,
Pinnacle
Bank, Elberton, and the entire committee for their help in planning an
outstanding and successful event.
Fed Issues Trust
Preferred Final Regulations
A number of our members
have been closely following the
Federal Reserve’s proposed
rulemaking
dealing with Trust Preferred Securities.
The Federal Reserve Board this week adopted a
final rule that allows trust preferred securities to continue to be
included in the tier 1 capital of bank holding companies. Under the final
rule, trust preferred securities and other restricted core capital elements
are limited to 25 percent of all core capital elements, net of goodwill less
any associated deferred tax liability. The agency noted that the flexibility
of trust preferred securities was demonstrated in the months following the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attack. When
issuance of most other capital instruments was extremely difficult, BHCs
were able to execute large issuances of trust preferred securities to retail
investors. The final rule provides a five-year transition period, ending March
31, 2009.
Busy Week Ahead for
Professional Development
GBA is looking forward
to offering a number of educational opportunities to our members next
week. In addition to the seven online AIB courses shown on the
Calendar of Events below which start next week, we are offering the
following other conferences, seminars and events:
March 8: Check
Handling - a Teller's Seminar
March 8: LGBA
Group Meeting, Griffin
March 9: Insider
Lending and Reg O
March 9: IRA
Contributions
March 9: LGBA
Group Meeting, Lake Oconee
March 10: UCC
Update
March 10: LGBA
Group Meeting, Atlanta
March 10-11: Financial
Risk Management Conference
Bankruptcy Bill Debated
in U.S. Senate
The
U.S. Senate has used
most of the week to debate bankruptcy reform legislation (S. 256).
GBA has been supporting the legislation and has encouraged both
Senators
Saxby Chambliss and
Johnny Isakson to oppose
amendments other than those making technical corrections by the
Judiciary
Committee Chairman,
Arlen Specter (R-PA).
So far six amendments have been voted down and debate is slated to
resume Monday. Sen.
Ted
Kennedy (D-MA) and Sen.
Rick Santorum (R-PA) will offered
substantially differing amendments dealing with minimum wage and we
understand the votes are there for the Senate to pass the bill in final form
next week. Our thanks to both
Senators Chambliss and Isakson for their support of our position on this
bill.
SEC
Delays Section 404 Deadline for Non-accelerated Filers
The
SEC
announced
this week
a delay in the compliance date for “non-accelerated filers” under
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The
one-year extension from the previously established July
15, 2005, compliance date for
non-accelerated filers comes as good news for our members who have been
working diligently to make the original deadline.
For most banks that are non-accelerated filers, the new effective
date will be as of December 2006. Section
404 requires a company to include in its annual reports a report by
management on the company's internal control over financial reporting and an
accompanying auditor’s report.
Answer Filed in GBA
Amicus on Garnishment Issue
In last week’s
Bulletin, we reported on an
amicus we filed in support of Greyhound Lines,
Inc. The case involves an
interpretation of current Georgia law
which apparently subjects defaulting garnishees, whether they are
individuals or corporations, to unlimited liability that bears no
relationship to the underlying debt, if any, that the garnishee may owe to
the judgment debtor. The
plaintiff has filed an
answer to our brief asking the court to essential ignore our arguments
that the General Assembly never intended for such an outrageous outcome in a
garnishment case.