Legislative Update

Legislative Update
February 13, 2004 A review of current developments from the Georgia Bankers Association
www.gabankers.com
Payday Loan Bill Passes House	A House committee substitute to the Senate-passed bill, S.B. 157, bringing payday lenders under the Georgia Industrial Loan Act passed the House on Thursday. House Banks and Banking Committee Chairman Johnny Floyd (D-Cordele) managed the bill on the floor, which passed 150-20. As we reported in last week’s *LegisFAX* and *e-Legislative Update, GBA asked for the bill to be amended clarifying that banks and credit card banks would not be unintentionally covered by the payday loan restrictions. Our thanks to Rep. Larry O’Neal* (R-Warner Robins) for offering that amendment which was adopted unanimously. The House-passed bill is one of the strongest anti-payday loan bills in the country. Rather than creating a new regulatory structure specifically for payday lenders, as the payday lenders had requested, the House and Senate have passed separate versions of bills that would essentially abolish payday lending as it exists today. The House substitute bill was also amended to remove the bar against industrial loan licensees from being sued in class actions. The bill goes back to the Senate for further consideration.	Rep. Floyd

Redistricting Thrown Out	A three-judge federal panel in Atlanta on Tuesday overturned Georgia’s House and Senate legislative districts on the grounds that they violate the “one person, one vote” standard. Unless their ruling is overturned on appeal, Georgia’s 180 House and 56 Senate districts will have to be redrawn, a task that throws a monkey wrench into the current session that, until now, was primarily dominated by budget woes. The lawsuit that prompted the ruling attacked legislative maps on a variety of grounds, including the allegation that the population deviations between some of the districts violated the “one person, one vote” principle. The judges rejected arguments by the plaintiffs that the redistricting plans amounted to racial gerrymandering, but ruled in their favor on the population deviation issue – meaning how much one district can deviate from another in the total number of people who are represented in a particular district. The current districts have deviations as high as nine percent. The panel rejected arguments, however, that Georgia’s Congressional districts violate the “one person, one vote” principle. The judges ordered the General Assembly to redraw and adopt new House and Senate redistricting plans by March 1. The legislative leaders immediately set about trying to accommodate the ruling while considering all other options. Secretary of State Cathy Cox reported that the ruling could delay Georgia’s primaries set for July.

Credit Reports	GBA staff continues to meet with Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta) on her legislation, H.B. 656, which creates a new requirement for the national consumer reporting agencies to notify a consumer if a person or entity, other than a person or entity with whom the consumer has a business relationship, makes an inquiry concerning the consumer’s file with the consumer reporting agency. The original bill was amended to provide for specific charges from the reporting agency to the requester of the information. In our meetings with Rep. Chambers, we have expressed concern about the procedural difficulties created by the bill and pointed out how consumers may already opt out from having their information being given by the reporting agencies to solicitors. Our thanks to Rep. Chambers for having the bill recommitted to the House Governmental Affairs Committee for further work.	Rep. Chambers

GBA Hosts Committee	Our thanks to the House Banks and Banking Committee for attending a dinner this week coordinated by GBA to thank the members for their service.


Predatory Lending	H.B. 1171 by Representatives Holmes, Bruce, Sinkfield, Stanley-Turner, Mobley and others amends the Georgia Fair Lending Act to return it to the version passed in 2002. Back would be covered loans, the old definition of flipping, and the assignee liability language that caused the rating agencies to shut down the mortgage market in Georgia; and gone would be the parity language that allowed state-chartered banks to be exempted from the Act. GBA opposes.

DBF Housekeeping Bill	S.B. 405 by Senators Cheeks and Stephens has passed the Senate and should be considered soon by the House Banks and Banking Committee. The bill is the annual housekeeping legislation introduced at the request of the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. The only provision of significant interest to banks deals with dropping the requirement for prior approval for third party service contracts. A summary is on the GBA website.

Lien on Abandoned Vehicles	S.B. 404 by Senators Cheeks, Brush and Hall creates a new type of lien on abandoned vehicles to include the cost of an environmental cleanup created by the vehicle. The bill unanimously passed the Senate this week and is pending in the House Judiciary Committee. Sen. Don Cheeks (R-Augusta) told his fellow senators the bill was introduced to correct a problem a constituent had encountered. The constituent had towed a tanker truck to his lot at the request of law enforcement, but the towing operator was unable to recoup his significant costs in cleaning up the resultant spill contamination at his lot.

Gift Cards	S.B. 443 by Senators Adelman and Seabaugh prohibits the imposition of a nonuse, handling, dormancy or maintenance fee on gift cards and gift certificates issued by merchants or persons acting on behalf of merchants. The cards must be redeemed for cash or merchandise at the full value issued. GBA has met with the author to express our concern about certain provisions in the bill and we will continue monitoring.

GBA Keeps You Informed	GBA’s Legislative Update is intended to keep you apprised of the bills that the GBA is tracking on the industry’s behalf. Subsequent issues will be sent on alternate Fridays except when the legislature is in recess. On Fridays that the Update is not sent, GBA’s LegisFAX will be sent via fax to all CEO’s and those interested in tracking issues on a weekly basis. The electronic version of both the Legislative Update and the LegisFAX will be sent by e-mail to those on our e-mail list. 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 being tracked by the GBA.

GBA Lobbyists	GBA will again be represented this year every day 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 up-to-the-minute news from the session. 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 will be 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.

State Legislative Issues l Georgia House of Representatives l Georgia Senate