February 15, 2008
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| The House Judiciary Committee reported out S.B. 355 this week that deals with the kinds of instruments that may be considered “good funds” under Georgia’s mortgage closing statute. As introduced, the bill would have excluded official bank checks from being considered “good funds” which would essentially have resulted in the use of wire transfers in all real estate closings. The bill was amended in the Senate to continue to allow federally insured financial institutions’ checks to be considered as “good funds.” Before a House Judiciary Subcommittee, both the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Mortgage Closing Attorney Association testified against leaving bank cashiers checks in the bill. Our thanks to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Preston Smith (R-Rome) for his help in convincing the House committee to continue to allow bank cashiers checks to retain their current status. |
 A similar bill pending in the House,
H.B. 918, was also discussed in subcommittee. A
provision was included in that bill which would eliminate a
conflict between Georgia law and the Federal Truth in Lending
Act dealing with rescissions. That language was added to
S.B. 355 and the bill was reported. Subcommittee chairman,
Steve "Thunder" Tumlin (R-Marietta) was most helpful in
explaining the mortgage closing process as his firm has closed
many real estate transactions using cashiers checks and has
never encountered a problem. The bill now goes to the
House Rules Committee where we expect further action
soon. |
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| The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing this week on H.B. 1093, a bill that clarifies the notification provisions for liquidated damages which result from the failure to satisfy a mortgage within the current 60-day period after a loan has been paid. The bill was introduced by committee chairman, Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs). The bill was introduced in response to a number of class action cases which have been filed against lenders throughout Georgia. It has been assumed that in order for a borrower to receive the liquidated damages, the borrower would have to give notice to the lienholder and demand the payment. Plaintiff lawyers have taken that a step further and are now saying the demand can be made when a suit is filed seeking the payment not only for the borrower, but also for any |
 other
borrowers of the lender whose mortgages had
not been satisfied within the 60 day period. Our thanks to Dwight Davis
with King & Spalding who testified for GBA in support
of the legislation. Two representatives for the Georgia
Trial Lawyers Association spoke in opposition to the bill.
Chairman Willard asked the two sides to see if there was a way
to work out the differences without damaging the intent of the
legislation and those efforts are underway. |
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| We have been told by a number of legislators to expect the General Assembly to consider changing Georgia's foreclosure laws. Most of the bills will most likely deal with either the foreclosure process itself or the time a foreclosure takes to be resolved. GBA has taken the position that the current foreclosure resolution process is efficient and no changes are needed. The first bill dealing with foreclosures was introduced this week by a bipartisan group of Senators in leadership positions. The bill, S.B. 479 by Sens. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta), Eric Johnston (R-Savannah), Robert Brown (D-Macon) and |
 David Shafer (R-Duluth) provides that real estate sales
made under power of sale contained in mortgages, deeds, or other
lien contracts shall be advertised weekly for ten weeks.
The current requirement is to advertise for four weeks, so this
bill would add an additional six weeks to the process. The
bill has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee
and we expect action soon. |
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 Watercraft
Titling Bill Reported |
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 The Senate Banking and Financial
Institutions Committee met this week and reported out a
revised version of the Uniform Securities Act, S.B. 358.
Committee Chairman Bill Hamrick,
(R-Carrollton) is the sponsor of the bill and we appreciate his
efforts to bring the Georgia statute in line with many other
states. The bill was requested by the Secretary of State's
office and we worked with their representatives to have several
areas of the bill amended. We believe the new version
adequately addresses our concerns, especially with regard to
lowering the potential for litigation resulting from information
required to be entered in a nationwide public access database.
GBA now supports the adoption of the bill and it is expected to
come before the full Senate soon. |
 The
House Game, Fish and Parks Committee met this week and
reported
H.B. 1000 by Rep. John Heard (R-Lawrenceville) and
others that would create a new titling procedure for certain
watercraft. Rep. Heard, a
boat dealer, has emphasized the importance of having a better
tracking procedure for motorized watercraft and we appreciate
his efforts. The bill was amended prior to being reported
to reduce the number of boats requiring a title, mostly small
pleasure boats with small motors and boats which will only be
used on private property. GBA has supported the concept of
titling watercraft for some time and we expect the bill to
receive further action soon by the House Rules Committee. |
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ID
Theft Bill Passes Senate |
Lien
Revisions in Committee |
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 The Senate has passed legislation, S.B. 388, introduced
at the request of Governor Sonny Perdue, which would
establish an identity theft task force within the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation. ID fraud investigations will be moved from
the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs to the GBI. The
bill was introduced by Sen. Joe Carter (R-Tifton) and
others. GBA supports the bill. |
 The Senate Special Judiciary Committee held a hearing
this week on S.B. 374 by Sen. Dan Weber
(R-Dunwoody). The bill revises certain time periods of
filing materialmen's/mechanic liens and provides for certain
notices regarding waiver of liens or claim upon bond. The bill,
introduced following a study committee's work last year, appears
to create no adverse effect on our members. |
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Uniform
Act Passes Subcommittee |
Sub
S Bills Introduced |
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 GBA is following H.B. 972 by
Rep. Steve Tumlin (R-Marietta) and others. The legislation
would adopt the "Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional
Funds Act" which provides standards for charities to use in
managing investments and spending from endowments and other
rules regarding the management institutional funds. Banks or
bank trust departments are not currently covered by the language
in the bill; however, we are monitoring the legislation.
The bill has been reported out
of a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee and
will come before the full committee soon. |
 Rep. David Knight (R-Griffin)
has introduced two bills of interest to Sub S Banks.
H.R. 1153 requires non-Georgia residents to sign consent
agreements to pay Georgia income tax.
H.R. 1155 reduces the penalty for failing to withhold a
mandatory payment from 100% to 25% of the amount that should
have been withheld. The bill further clarifies the rules of
filing returns and remitting taxes for non-Georgia shareholders.
Rep. Knight was recently named chairman of a subcommittee of the
House Ways and Means Committee. We look forward to
working with him. |
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| Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson has introduced a new version of his bill that would replace certain ad valorem taxes with a statewide sales tax on services. The bill is focused primarily on the ad valorem school tax and the revenues generated by the current tax would instead be generated with a 4% sales tax on certain services. We have been following the bill closely as banking services were designated as services the tax would be imposed upon in the original draft. The new version eliminates that specific term and instead lists a number of separate banking services that would be covered. |
 The House Ways and Means Committee met this week and gave
the Speaker the opportunity to present his new bill to the
committee. In order for the change to become effective, a
constitutional amendment would also have to be adopted approving
the change. We are analyzing the bill to determine its
impact on our members. |
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Contact GBA Staff Lobbyists With Questions |
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GBA's three lobbyists will be onsite at the Capitol all session to be available to legislators and staff as questions arise about the various bills that may affect the banking industry. If you have questions about any legislation pending, please call on these professionals for their help. Also, GBA's State Issues Page of our website will be updated daily during the session. |
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Georgia Bankers Association • 50 Hurt Plaza, Suite 1050, Atlanta, GA 30303 • Phone 404.522.1501 • Fax 404.522.9848 • www.gabankers.com |
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