e-Legislative Update
February 18, 2005 A review of current developments from the Georgia Bankers Association
Department’s Housekeeping Bill Passes Senate
The Georgia State Senate this week passed the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance's annual housekeeping bill, S.B. 82. The bill has been sent to the House and is pending in the Banks and Banking Committee. Of particular interest to state-chartered banks is a provision that adds parity language to the Georgia Code giving the Department the authority to preempt state laws that have been preempted by federal law for federally-chartered institutions. This language is similar in construction to the parity language included in the Georgia Fair Lending Act that was preempted by the Comptroller of the Currency. The bill also contains provisions dealing with credit unions, money transmitters and the mortgage entities regulated by the Department. A summary of the bill prepared by the Department is on our website in the 2005 State Issues Section.
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Mortgage Fraud Bill Reported
The Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee this week met and reported S.B. 100 to the full Senate. The bill was introduced by Committee chairman Bill Hamrick (R-Carrollton) and others at the request of Attorney General Thurbert Baker. The bill is designed to give prosecutors more tools, especially by adding the crime of mortgage fraud to the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act. The bill is scheduled for a vote on Tuesday.
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Congratulations to the General Assembly for passing S.B. 3, the civil justice reform legislation. This was the first bill passed by both the House and Senate and signed by the Governor. The GBA has been supporting civil justice reform as part of a larger business coalition coordinated by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Many of our members who work with the medical community and rural hospitals have told us of the skyrocketing costs of liability insurance and how difficult many communities have in attracting physicians and keeping hospitals open. This legislation addresses those problems and one major insurer has already announced a 10% rate reduction for liability insurance because the bill has now been signed.
Gov. Perdue
Gift Card Bill Reported
The Senate Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee reported S.B. 13 this week. The bill requires the disclosure of the expiration date and certain fees associated with gift cards to be shown on the cards. Our thanks to Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) for his leadership in addressing this important consumer protection legislation. Sen. Rogers has been extremely cooperative in understanding our concerns and plans to ask the full Senate to consider the bill shortly. Also our thanks to Committee Chairman, John Bulloch (R-Ochlocknee), who reminded the new members of his committee about the extensive work that had gone into perfecting the bill last year and encouraged its adoption. GBA has prepared a short issue brief explaining our position in support of the legislation and a copy is on GBA’s website under the 2005 State Issues section.
Sen. Bulloch
Other Bills of Interest Introduced this Week
With the halfway point being reached for the General Assembly this week, we saw a heightened number of bills introduced. We’ve added several bills to our website and among them are:
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Infrastructure Facilities Authority
H.B. 436 by Representatives Lunsford, Keen, Golick, O'Neal, Smith and Roberts. The bill changes the mission of the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority to add virtually any public project as a potential project to be funded by the Authority. -
Title Pawn
S.B. 198 by Senators Miles, Fort and Tate. Sets the interest rate on pawns for motor vehicle titles at no more than 5% per month. We understand discussions are underway to require any excess funds generated by a sale of the vehicle to be returned to the person who pawned the vehicle. -
Tax Sales
H.B. 445 by Representative Dean. Provides that any excess proceeds following a tax sale shall be remitted to the record owner of the property with a notice being sent to any record security interest holder. There are a number of bills pending dealing with tax sales and GBA is monitoring them all. This bill is simply an example of one which would have a direct impact on lenders. -
Mortgage Loan Officer Licensing
H.B. 498 by Representatives Fludd, Ehrhart, Porter, Holmes, Benfield and Stephenson. Creates a new regulatory process within the Department of Banking and Finance to license mortgage loan officers. Individuals working for a bank would not be covered by the new procedure.
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 and is sent on Fridays during the session. On Fridays when the Update is not mailed, it will be sent electronically to those who have provided us with their email addresses. 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 is 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 2005 State Issues link on GBA’s website for up-to-the-minute status of bills being followed this session.
Joe
Brannen, Direct phone, (404) 420-2026
Elizabeth
Chandler, Direct phone, (404) 420-2027
Don Browne,
Direct phone,
(404) 522-1501