e-Legislative Update
February 4, 2005 A review of current developments from the Georgia Bankers Association
The Georgia General Assembly completed their third week in session on Thursday of this week. Previous agreements between the House and Senate called for this Friday and next Friday to be recess days. Both the House and Senate Rules Committees are meeting daily to set the calendars for the respective bodies.
|
|
Civil Justice Reform Bill Clears Senate
The Senate passed S.B. 3 this week. This is the bill designed to bring about positive changes in our court systems and give Georgians more insurance options, provide a more competitive business climate, and bring stability to the insurance market. The Senate voted to engross the bill which meant the bill would not be subject to floor amendments. Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome) ushered this important bill through the Senate. The bill now goes to the House. In a meeting with the Capitol press corps on Thursday, Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said the House would consider their own bill and hinted there may be a difference of opinion between the two bodies on the size of the cap on liability. The Senate bill calls for a $250,000 cap.
Sen. Smith
Mortgage Fraud Bill Introduced
The Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee chairman, Bill Hamrick (R-Carrollton), and a bipartisan group of influential Senators introduced S.B. 100 at the request of Attorney General Thurbert Baker. The bill would give law enforcement more tools to prosecute mortgage fraud. The bill imposes harsh penalties on people who inflate the cost of homes and then sell them quickly to make an illegal profit. These houses are often sold several times in a short period of time This practice is generally called “flipping.” The term “flipping” was first introduced during debate on the Georgia Fair Lending Act several years ago. But in that case, the term was used to describe an individual who refinanced their own home several times without gaining a benefit. GBA has been supportive of the Attorney General’s efforts and will be monitoring the bill as it works its way through the process.
Sen. Hamrick
GBA staff met several times this week with Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) to continue discussing his legislation, S.B. 13, that would require the disclosure of the expiration date and certain fees associated with gift cards to be shown on the cards. The language in the bill continues to be perfected so it would not inadvertently capture other bank-issued credit or stored-value cards by its definitions. The author has been extremely cooperative in understanding our concerns and has also met with the Banking Department to add additional language. The author hopes to move the bill next week.
Sen. Rogers
Meth Lab Cleanup
We continued to meet this week with authors of several bills that would restrict the purchase of the ingredients from which illegal methamphetamine is made. Our interest in this legislation was generated from early versions of the bills that would have included liability for lienholders to be among those with cleanup responsibility. Our thanks to Rep. Jay Neal (R-LaFayette) for taking that provision out of his bill. There has been some consideration to include a provision that would preempt local ordinances from being adopted dealing with the sale of the meth ingredients and the possibility that these ordinances could also create liability for cleanup. No consensus has been reached yet on that approach. The bill was heard by the House Judiciary-Non-Civil- Committee this week. Law enforcement has been generally favoring the bill, but others have expressed concern about the difficulty businesses and pharmacists would have in controlling the sales. After extensive debate, a vote on the bill was postponed.
Rep. Neal
Income Tax Apportionment
H.B. 191 by Representatives Larry O'Neal (R-Warner Robins) and Roger Williams (R-Dalton) was introduced at the request of Governor Sonny Perdue. The bill is part of the Governor’s economic development package and is designed to attract more corporations to operate either headquarters or substantial operations in Georgia. The bill changes the allocation and apportionment formula for state corporate income dealing with property, payroll and gross receipts. The allocation formula for three factors will eventually be compressed into only gross receipts which is essentially the tax treatment already in effect for banks. The bill was reported out of the House Ways and Means Committee this week.
Rep. O'Neal
Farm Equipment Lease Taxation
Rep. Richard Royal (D-Camilla) and others introduced H.B. 203 earlier this session. The bill calls for a constitutional amendment that would give leased farm equipment the same ad valorem tax treatment as traditionally financed or otherwise owned farm equipment. We would be interested in hearing from our members about this concept.
Rep. Royal
The Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee decided not to meet this week and instead asked the representatives of the banking industry and the credit unions to continue discussing the credit union parity language we told you about in last week’s Bulletin. GBA has met extensively with the Department as well as credit union representatives, and it appears the changes would only put state and national credit unions on the same competitive footing. Their original language sought to gain additional powers for state chartered credit unions, but after our meetings, the credit union representatives understood our concerns and agreed to drop those provisions. We understand the Department is having their bill redrawn to include the new language and the bill could be heard by the Senate Banking Committee next week.
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