e-Legislative Update

April 9, 2004          A review of current developments from the Georgia Bankers Association

www.gabankers.com

Legislature Adjourns;
Special Session Looms

 		 The General Assembly has adjourned from their regular 40-day session; however, Governor Sonny Perdue is calling the General Assembly back into session to finalize a balanced budget.  The budget dominated the entire session as revenue projections were constantly revised, and the house and senate leadership worked diligently to fund essential programs.  For the first time in four years, banking issues did not generate huge attention.  All the bills GBA followed, asked to be amended or opposed were resolved favorably.  Below are just four of the bills that received final passage.  All the bills we followed are listed on a link from the homepage of GBA’s website at www.gabankers.com.

Identity Theft Bill on
Governor’s Desk

H.B. 656, described by its author as an identity theft prevention measure, was amended at our request by the Senate Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee last week.  Our thanks to Committee Chairman, John Bulloch (R-Ochlocknee) for his important leadership.  The bill passed the Senate and the changes were agreed upon in the House on the final day.  Essentially the bill will require credit grantors to verify the consumer’s address if a response is received from an unsolicited credit card offer giving an address different from the address where the creditor sent the solicitation.  For existing customers, the address may be verified by information already on file with the credit grantor.


Sen. Bulloch

Other Bills Receiving
Final Action

A number of bills GBA followed were passed in final form during the session.  Any bills which did not receive final passage are dead.  Following are the most important bills awaiting the Governor’s signature:

S.B. 157 prohibits payday lending, deferred presentment services or advance cash services for entities not otherwise licensed or regulated. 

S.B. 405 is the annual housekeeping bill introduced at the request of the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance.  The provision of significant interest to banks deals with dropping the requirement for prior approval for third party service contracts.  Other provisions apply to other DBF regulated entities:  credit unions, money transmitters, mortgage lenders and brokers.  A bill summary prepared by the Department is on GBA’s website. 

H.B. 1258 preempts local governments from enacting minimum wage and benefit levels for individuals employed by vendors with contracts within their jurisdictions.  The bill was introduced in response to an ordinance pending before the City of Atlanta City Councilthat specifies a minimum salary for anyone working with City contractors.  The GBA has opposed that ordinance and supports this legislation which will prohibit its adoption.

GBA Keeps You Informed

GBA’s Legislative Update is intended to keep you apprised of the bills that the GBA tracked on the industry’s behalf.  The electronic version of both the Legislative Update and the LegisFAX was sent by e-mail to those on our e-mail list throughout the session.  The ‘State Issues’ section of GBA Online, GBA’s home page, is linked to the website maintained by the General Assembly and assures that you will have the latest version of any bill tracked by the GBA.

GBA Lobbyists

GBA was represented this year at the Capitol by our three lobbyists:  Joe Brannen, Elizabeth Chandler and Don Browne.  Give them a call if you have questions about any legislation.  Don’t forget to check the 2004 State Issues link on GBA’s website for all bills followed this session including those which did not pass.

Joe Brannen, Direct phone, (404) 420-2026
 Elizabeth Chandler, Direct phone, (404) 420-2027
 Don Browne, Direct phone, (404) 522-1501

The electronic version of GBA's Legislative Update was published regularly during the 2004 session of the Georgia General Assembly.  Let GBA's Lydia Thomas know of others you would like to add to our distribution list for next year's publications.

State Legislative Issues l Georgia House of Representatives l Georgia Senate