e-Legislative Update

March 11, 2005          A review of current developments from the Georgia Bankers Association

www.gabankers.com

“Crossover Day” Full of Activity in both Houses

Today was the 30th day of the 2005 legislative session and breaking with previous tradition, the new leadership chose today as the last day a bill must be passed by either the House or Senate in order to be considered by the other body.  Previously, the 33rd day had been known as the “crossover day.” Both the House and Senate had long calendars in order to accommodate as many legislators as possible with their priority bills.  We expect some exceptions to be made to this rule, but moving the date up by three days gives the legislature more time to work out differences in bills which pass both bodies.

Family Day at the Capitol

A rare Saturday session is scheduled for March 12 to give working people and families the opportunity to see the legislature at work.  A bipartisan group has been working on a package of bills to be considered which would remove some antiquated laws commonly known as “Jim Crow” laws.  All sorts of interest groups are also taking the opportunity to exercise their free speech rights and even a large march is planned.  At the close of the day, the legislature is planning to host all the participants with meals provided by the Varsity, Harold’s Barbecue and Chick-fil-A – three businesses frequented by legislators throughout the session.

 

Notification Bill Passes Senate

We have previously reported on several bills introduced as a result of the fraudsters who got access to Alpharetta-based ChoicePoint’s 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.  The bill was unanimously passed by the Senate this week and will be considered by the House Judiciary Committee.  Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee chairman Bill Hamrick (R-Carrollton) did an excellent job of handling the bill in the Senate.



Sen. Hamrick

Tax Bill Amended

H.B. 488 has been managed by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Larry O’Neal (R-Warner Robins).  The bill was introduced at the request of the Revenue Department to give the Commissioner more discretion on certain corporate tax returns.  Several organizations, including GBA, had some serious concerns with the original version of the bill, and we met with the author and the Revenue Commissioner to discuss these concerns.  Most of these concerns were addressed and a new version was voted out of committee.  Our thanks to Chairman O’Neal for listening to some additional concerns we felt needed to be addressed and he amended the bill again.  The bill passed the House today.


Rep. O'Neal

Mortgage Fraud Bill Awaiting Rules Action

 S.B. 100 by Senators Hamrick, Thompson, Johnson and Starr was introduced at the request of Attorney General Thurbert Baker giving law enforcement more tools to prosecute mortgage fraud.  The bill would impose harsh penalties on people who inflate the cost of homes and then sell them quickly to make an illegal profit. This practice is generally called ‘flipping’.  The term ‘flipping’ was first introduced during debate on the Georgia Fair Lending Act.  In that case, the term was used to describe an individual who refinanced their own home several times without gaining a benefit. The bill has passed the Senate and reported out of the House Banks and Banking Committee.  We expect the Rules Committee to soon report the bill to the full House.


Attorney General Baker

eMail Spam Bill Passes Senate

S.B. 62 by Senators Shafer and Staton was introduced at the request of Governor Purdue.  The bill creates a new crime of “initiation of deceptive commercial e-mail” and requires the receiver of the email to have opted in to a solicitation. The Governor has made the bill a priority to help reduce email spam.  The bill has passed the Senate and is pending in the House Judiciary non-Civil Committee.

Intangible Recording Tax Proration

H.B. 265 was introduced by Representatives Ralston and Crawford.  For property located in more than one county, the bill requires the holder of an instrument to record the instrument in each county and certify under oath the prorated value of the property in each county.  The bill does not allow the recording to occur in a particular county without the certification from the recording officer that the intangible recording tax has been paid. GBA expressed concern to Rep. Ralston and we understand the bill will not be pursued this year.

Trust Flexible Income

H.B. 406 has passed the House this week and is pending in the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Sen. Casey Cagle (R-Gainesville).  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.  The bill gives trustees the ability to invest in more flexible ways.  Click here for the executive summary prepared by the State Bar.


Sen. Cagle
Rep. Willard
Rep. Oliver

Notification Bills Reported

The Senate Science and Technology Committee, chaired by Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) met this week and reported two bills dealing with notification to consumers if their personal data has been compromised.  S.B. 245 was introduced by Senators Heath, Rogers, Carter, Pearson, Hamrick and Staton.  The bill requires any company or state agency which owns computerized data containing personal information about individuals to notify those individuals if their database has been compromised.  If the company or agency does not own the data, the notification is required to go to the owner of the data.  S.B. 251 by was introduced by Senators Shafer, Hamrick, Heath, Zamarippa, Staton and Wiles.  The bill requires any business entity to notify consumers whose personal computerized identifying information may have been compromised and creates a cause of action against the perpetrator.  Since the Senate has already passed S.B. 230 we mentioned earlier, we do not expect these bills to be reported out of the Senate Rules Committee this year.


Sen. Shafer

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

The electronic version of GBA's Legislative Update will be published regularly during the 2005 session of the Georgia General Assembly.  Let GBA's Lydia Thomas know of others you would like to add to our distribution list.

State Legislative Issues l Georgia General Assembly