e-Legislative Update
February 25, 2005 A review of current developments from the Georgia Bankers Association
Department’s Housekeeping Almost Clears Final Hurdle
The Georgia House of Representatives today passed the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance's annual housekeeping bill, S.B. 82. This would ordinarily be the final vote on the bill, but the House decided to reconsider their action when they meet again next Wednesday. 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. Click here for a summary of the Department's bill.
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Fireworks During Mortgage Fraud Bill Debate
The Georgia State Senate has passed S.B. 100, the bill introduced by Banking and Financial Institutions 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. As the bill was being debated on the Senate floor, Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) offered an amendment that would have reinstated the Georgia Fair Lending Act (GFLA) as it existed in its original and unworkable form. Sen. Fort has made several attempts to bring GFLA back. A ruling was requested on whether the Fort amendment was germane to the mortgage fraud bill and the presiding officer, Lt. Governor Mark Taylor, ruled it germane. An additional request was made for the Secretary of the Senate, Frank Eldridge, to rule on the germaneness of the amendment and he ruled it was not germane. A motion was made to vote to sustain the Eldridge ruling and it was sustained which had the effect of prohibiting consideration of the amendment. Another amendment was successfully offered by Sen. Steve Thompson (D-Powder Springs) to remove language he felt was too broad. The bill then passed overwhelmingly and has been sent to the House.
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H.B. 488 by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Larry O’Neal (R-Warner Robins) was held in the committee this week after several industry groups, including GBA, raised questions about the broad language in the bill. H.B. 488 was introduced at the request of the Revenue Department to give the Commissioner more discretion on certain corporate tax returns. More information is on our website. The committee will consider the bill next week.
Rep. O'Neal
Several bills have been introduced as a result of press reports about Alpharetta-based ChoicePoint giving fraudsters access to their database. S.B. 230, by Senators Hamrick, Grant and Mullis, was patterned after a similar law in California that requires investigative consumer reporting agencies (like ChoicePoint) to notify consumers if the company’s database has been compromised. Several conversations were held with interested parties throughout the week and some consideration was given to requiring all companies, like banks, to be covered by the notification requirements. However, Senator Hamrick felt banks and similar institutions were sufficiently regulated already under federal and state law and kept the focus of his bill to the investigative consumer reporting agencies. The bill was reported out of the Senate Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee on Thursday. We expect the full Senate to vote on the bill next week.
Sen. Hamrick
Gift Card Disclosure
The Senate was scheduled to vote this week on S.B. 13, legislation that would require the disclosure of the expiration date and certain fees associated with gift cards to be shown on the cards. The bill has been ably handled by Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock). However, because the Senate got deadlocked on another bill which was on the calendar ahead of this bill, the Senate adjourned prior to considering it. We expect the bill to be on the Senate calendar next week. A short issue brief explaining our conditional support for the bill on GBA’s website under the 2005 State Issues section.
Sen. Rogers
Minimum Wage Ordinances
The House passed H.B. 59 overwhelmingly this week clearing the bill for consideration by the Senate. The bill was introduced by House Rules Committee Chairman Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) in response to an ordinance adopted by the Atlanta City Council that gives preference to potential city contractors if they pay their workers a wage substantially higher that the state or federal minimum wage. The bill prohibits local governments from using their purchasing or contracting provisions to affect wages or benefits paid by vendors and GBA supports the bill.
Rep. Ehrhart
Health Insurance Risk Pool
H.B. 320 has been introduced by Rep. Ron Forster (R-Ringgold) that would have added costs to insurance programs like those offered by the GBA Insurance Trust. The bill was written to fund a risk pool for uninsured individuals and called for a $2.00 per month charge per covered employee to be paid into the fund. After GBA and several employer groups objected to the provision, the bill was amended to fund the risk pool with other revenues already collected by the state.
Rep. Forster
H.B. 406 has been reported out of the House Judiciary Committee. The bill, authored by Representatives Wendell Willard (R-Atlanta) and Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur), was requested by the Fiduciary Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia and is designed to modernize Georgia law dealing with the sometimes conflicting interests trustees encounter in investing trust assets. Similar legislation has been adopted in several states and this bill is modeled after the Pennsylvania statute. Trustees owe a duty of impartiality towards both the income and remainder beneficiaries. The potential conflict arises when the trustee invests and the two kinds of beneficiaries have different short or long-term goals. The bill gives trustees the ability to invest in more flexible ways. An executive summary prepared by the State Bar is on GBA’s website.
 Rep. Willard |
 Rep. Oliver |
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