Legislative Update
April 19, 2002 A review of current developments from the Georgia Bankers Association
H.B. 1361 by Representatives Smith, Turnquest and Dukes was introduced at the request of Governor Barnes. The bill goes far beyond the legislation passed by the Senate in the 2001 session, but contains many favorable provisions to traditional lenders such as interest rates which would trigger a loan as a high-cost loan and the preemption of local governments from being able to adopt local predatory lending ordinances. GBA worked with the Governor's staff and floor leaders to address our principal concerns with the bill. Click here for the summary of the major provisions of the bill. Our thanks to Don Lampe of Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice for his assistance in preparing this summary. While the bill will not affect the majority of loans banks make, our members will need to ensure a thorough understanding of the bill to avoid unnecessary compliance problems. GBA is hosting a seminar in early June to help our members understand this complex legislation, so be looking for more details soon.
Smith
S.B. 353 by Senators Cheeks, Cagle, Crotts and Stokes was the Banking Department's annual housekeeping bill. The bill addresses a number of areas of interest to bankers such as allowing the Department to assess fees via ACH transactions, share examination information with other regulators of new services banks are offering such as securities, and strengthen the Department’s policy on employee gifts and how the employees handle potential conflicts of interest when they own bank stock. GBA supported.
Cheeks
S.B. 532 by Senators Jackson, Tanksley, Smith, Stokes, Stephens and Golden changes the five-year age requirement for the acquisition of a bank to three years. GBA monitored.
Jackson
H.B. 1253 by Representatives Reichert, Jenkins, Bordeaux, Stokes, Squires and others cleans up the language from the UCC 9 bill passed last session and calls for the adoption of the newly revised Article 5 dealing with Letters of Credit. We will be providing an analysis of this legislation with the GBA Bulletin being mailed May 3. GBA supported.
Reichert
H.B. 84 by Representatives Martin (Retired), Allen, Reichert and Campbell. Creates the Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act to update the Georgia code to conform with national standards. GBA supported.
Allen
H.B. 1582 by Representatives Walker, Dix, Squires and Bordeaux. Creates a central indexing system for liens and plats coordinated by the Georgia Superior Court Clerks Cooperative Authority. GBA supported.
Walker
Disposal of Records
H.B. 926 by Representatives Ashe, Martin (Retired), Campbell, Skipper and Reed requires financial institutions and others to shred any records prior to disposal containing personal information. GBA opposed the bill as written and recommended amendments to make the legislation acceptable. The bill was amended to address GBA's concerns and combined with the ID Theft legislation mentioned below.
Ashe
Identity Theft
S.B. 475 by Senators Thompson, Stokes and Tanksley improves the prosecution chances for victims of identity theft. Also contains exemption language which would have required banks to shred documents. GBA supported.
Thompson
H.B. 1176 by Representatives Parrish, Bordeaux and Stallings gives competitive equity to Georgia banks with trust powers by removing the restriction of FDIC-insured banks from providing corporate trust services only in our bordering states. GBA supported.
Parrish
H.B. 1157 by Representatives Barnard and Shaw provides that in any claim involving a total loss, the insurance proceeds will be applied to pay the debt owed to the senior lien holder before any insurance proceeds will be applied to any other lien on the vehicle. GBA supported.
Barnard
H.B. 1135 by Representative Campbell provides that a trustee may delegate certain powers to an agent without assuming liability of the agent’s actions. Delegation of investment and management functions are authorized so that a prudent trustee of comparable skills could properly delegate under the circumstances. The text of this bill was added as amendment to H.B. 639 described below. GBA supported.
Campbell
H.B. 639 by Representatives Martin (Retired) and Willard makes several technical changes to the 1998 rewrite of the probate code. GBA monitored.
Willard
H.B. 917 by Representatives Willard, Stuckey and Martin (Retired) creates the Standby Guardianship Act. GBA monitored.
Stuckey
GBA’s Lobbyists at the Capitol
The lobbying team for the GBA was at the Capitol full-time throughout the session. If you need to get in touch with any of them on a particular issue, call them at their direct numbers below or click their name to send an email. They will get back to you at the earliest opportunity.
Joe
Brannen, Direct phone, (404) 420-2026
Elizabeth
Way, Direct phone, (404) 420-2027
Don Browne,
Direct phone,
(404) 522-1501
GBA Keeps You Informed
GBA’s Legislative Update was published throughout the session to keep you apprised of the bills the GBA was tracking on the industry’s behalf. The publication was sent on alternate Fridays during the session. On Fridays when the Update is not mailed, GBA’s LegisFAX was sent via fax to all CEO’s, Contact Bankers, Bank Counsel Section members, Associate Members and those interested in tracking issues on a weekly basis. Both publications were also sent electronically to those who had provided us with their email addresses. Let GBA's Lydia Thomas know of others you would like to add to our distribution list.
State Legislative Issues l Georgia House of Representatives l Georgia Senate l Governor