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January
14,
2000 A review of current developments from the Georgia
Bankers Association |
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www.gabankers.com
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Legislative Reception a Hit
Rep. Porter & Speaker Murphy
at Legislative Reception
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Thanks
to almost 800 people for making the GBA’s 2000 Legislative
Reception a tremendous success this week. Bankers from across Georgia descended on Atlanta to meet with
their legislative representatives and other state dignitaries at this
exciting event. The
Legislative Reception is a decades-long tradition by Georgia bankers to
show their appreciation to these state leaders for their dedication, hard
work and support for a strong business climate in Georgia.
The event is known as one of the “don’t miss” receptions by
these policy-makers, and they turned out in record numbers.
Thank you to our members for making it such a nice event and for
your support of our legislative activities. |
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Deriso
Lord
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The
annual meeting of GBA’s policy and legislative committees, hosted by GBA
Chairman, Sonny Deriso,
Vice Chairman of Synovus Financial
Corp. in Columbus, met prior to this week’s Legislative
Reception to review several pieces of legislation of interest to Georgia
Bankers. The group reiterated their strong support for legislation
removing the Town of 5,000 restriction which affects the ability of 120
state-chartered banks to sell insurance.
The bill removing this restriction, H.B.
656, is pending in the House
Insurance Committee chaired by Rep.
Jimmy Lord of Sandersville. The
group also received a report on the Banking Department’s housekeeping
bill which is needed to accommodate some of the changes in the financial
modernization bill passed by Congress late last year.
Public Affairs Committee member Ken Thigpen, President of Georgia
State Bank in Mableton, briefed the group on legislation which may
be introduced to create tax-advantaged college savings plans.
Other presentations were made on bills pending which would regulate
title insurance, title boats and prohibit fingerprinting.
Stan Pollock, an
attorney with Holland & Knight,
gave a presentation on the GBA Privacy Task Force’s recommendations to
the membership and reviewed the privacy provisions in the financial
modernization bill.
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Payday
Loan Bill Moves in Senate
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Legislation
to outlaw the payday loan industry in Georgia was introduced this week in
the Senate and has already been reported out of the Senate
Banking and Financial Institutions Committee.
The bill, S.B.
294 by Senator Don
Cheeks, makes it a felony for these kinds of loans to be made in
Georgia. Legislation is
pending in the House from last session, H.B.
515, by Rep.
Robert Reichert of Macon, which would regulate the industry rather
than outlaw it. This bill is
pending in the House
Banks and Banking Committee.
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Cheeks
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Reichert
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Credit Card Bill Introduced
Barnard
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Rep.
Terry Barnard of Glennville introduced legislation this week, H.B.
1156, which would prohibit the imposition of late fees on credit
cards unless the payment is at least 7 days late.
The association opposes legislation of this nature as our state has
the best credit card laws in the country and thousands of jobs have been
created since our credit card law was enacted in the mid-1980s.
Laws like those envisioned in H.B. 1156 also negatively impact
Georgia-based issuers as these bills only apply to our lenders and cannot
apply to lenders exporting their rates and terms to customers in Georgia.
Also, the marketplace for credit cards is the most competitive of
all lending and if one issuer adopts terms their customers do not want,
there are hundreds of other issuers willing to take on that account.
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Venue
Shopping
Martin
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The
GBA is working with a number of other associations, primarily the Georgia
Chamber of Commerce, to oppose H.B.
369 which would allow plaintiffs to “venue shop” in Georgia.
Under current law, businesses can be sued where they are
headquartered, where the company maintains a registered agent or where the
accident occurred. The bill, introduced by Rep.
Jim Martin of Atlanta, would allow suits to be brought anywhere
the business corporation does business – certainly a bad idea for banks.
The bill is pending in the House
Judiciary Committee where a vote is expected soon.
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Recess
for Next Week
King
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The
General Assembly will stand in recess the week of January 17 in honor of
the Martin
Luther King, Jr. Holiday as well as to work on the budget.
They will reconvene on Monday, January 24.
Therefore there will be no Legislative Update or LegisFax next
week.
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ABA
Town Hall Meeting
Johnson
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Registrations have
been mailed for the ABA Town
Hall Meeting in Macon on January 26 at the Crowne Plaza beginning
with lunch at noon. ABA’s
President, Hjalma Johnson,
Chairman and CEO of East Coast Bank Corp in Dade City, Florida,
will bring us up to date on the latest news from Washington.
Highlights will include what the regulators are doing to implement
the financial modernization bill and banking’s legislative agenda for
the 2000 congressional session. Come
learn the latest information from one of the banking industry’s truly
great leaders while giving your input into the process.
There is no charge to attend the event, but we do ask you to
register prior to the meeting to allow us to make appropriate
arrangements. Call Marybeth Jones
at (404) 420-2032 with questions.
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GBA’s
Lobbyists at the Capitol
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The
lobbying team for the GBA will be at the Capitol full-time throughout the session. If you need to get in touch with any of them on a
particular issue, several ways are available. Call the main number at the GBA,
(404) 522-1501, or leave a message on their direct voice mail, or send them an
e-mail. They
will get back to you at the earliest opportunity.
Joe
Brannen, Direct phone (404) 420-2026, E-mail: jbrannen@gabankers.com
Elizabeth
Way, Direct phone, (404) 420-2027, E-mail: eway@gabankers.com
Don Browne, Direct phone, (404)
420-2021, E-mail:
dbrowne@gabankers.com
Dan Thomason, Direct phone, (404)
420-2016, E-mail: dthomason@gabankers.com
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electronic version of GBA's Legislative Update will be published regularly
during the 2000 session of the Georgia General Assembly. Let GBA's Lydia
Thomas know of others you would like to add to our distribution list.
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