GBA Legislative Update

Legislative Update
March 1, 2002 A review of current developments from the Georgia Bankers Association
www.gabankers.com
GBA/CBA Testify on Governor’s Predatory Lending Bill	GBA President Joe Brannen testified this week on behalf of both the Georgia Bankers Association and Community Bankers Association before a subcommittee of the House Banks and Banking Committee on H.B. 1361, the bill introduced at the request of Governor Roy Barnes to stop predatory lending. In the statement, Joe pointed out several traditional loans that would come under the provisions of the bill because of the way the loans were defined and made recommendations for corrective action. He also discussed how difficult writing a bill will be when he said to the committee, “One thing we hope you will keep in mind is that the predatory lenders are using the same laws to make predatory loans that the traditional lenders are using to make legitimate loans. We appreciate how difficult the task is to carve out legitimate lending practices so credit will remain available in our state.” A number of individuals and groups testified in support of the bill such as the Georgia Association of Realtors, Atlanta Legal Aid, the AARP, the state employees union, the Presbyterian Church and the Access to Justice Project. Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) and Atlanta City Councilman Derek Boazman urged the subcommittee to strike the language in the bill which prevents local governments from adopting their own ordinance to regulate banking. The Governor’s floor leader, Rep. Charlie Smith (D-St. Marys), did an excellent job of explaining the complex bill to the subcommittee, and at the conclusion of the meeting reported that a substitute bill would be redrafted to take in consideration the points raised during the meeting. The GBA and CBA will continue to coordinate our efforts to improve the bill.	Smith

Trust Equity Bill Reported out of Senate Committee	H.B. 1176 by Rep. Butch Parrish (D-Swainsboro) and others was reported out of the Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee this week. The bill allows Georgia banks with trust powers to provide their services outside the adjacent states. The bill now goes to the Rules Committee for scheduling floor action. Committee chairman Don Cheeks (D-Augusta) asked newly-elected Senator David Shafer (R-Duluth) to explain the bill when it reaches the floor. GBA supports.	Parrish

Mobile Home Foreclosure	S.B. 422 by Senators Mullis, Dean, Marable, Williams and Cable creates a lien for back rent due a mobile home park and requires the lender in foreclosure of a mobile home to pay the back rent prior to taking possession of the mobile home. The bill was amended by the Senate this week to limit the back rent provision to two months and give the lender 30 days to move a repossessed unit. The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee. Efforts will continue to eliminate the back rent requirement.	Mullis

UCC 9 & UCC 5 Bill Pending	H.B. 1253 by Representative Robert Reichert (D-Macon) and others is pending in the House Rules Committee awaiting scheduling of action in the House. The bill simply cleans up language from the UCC 9 bill passed last session and calls for the adoption of the newly revised Article 5 dealing with Letters of Credit. GBA supports.	Reichert

Liens/Plats Central Index Bill Reported	H.B. 1582 by Representatives Walker, Dix, Squires and Bordeaux creates a central indexing system for liens and plats. The bill was reviewed and amended by the House Judiciary Committee this week and they reported it for further action by the Rules Committee. GBA supports.	Walker

Identity Theft	S.B. 475 by Senators Thompson, Stokes and Tanksley improves the prosecution chances for victims of identity theft. The GBA was introduced at the request of Governor Roy Barnes and Attorney General Thurbert Baker. GBA participated with the Attorney General last November in a series of Town Hall meetings where many people testified about the problems they encountered getting their cases prosecuted. This bill will be of significant help. The bill also requires all businesses to properly dispose of personally identifying information on their customers. Language requested by GBA was included which exempts financial institutions from this provision as they are already under a similar federal requirement in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley legislation. GBA supports.	Baker

Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act Reported	H.B. 84 by Representatives Martin (Retired), Allen, Reichert and Campbell creates the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act to update the Georgia Code to conform with national standards. The bill has passed the House and was reported out of the Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee this week. GBA supports.	Allen

Delegation of Fiduciary Duties	H.B. 1135 by Representative Tom Campbell (R-Roswell) provides that a trustee may delegate certain powers to an agent without assuming liability of the agent’s actions. Delegation of investment and management functions are authorized so that a prudent trustee of comparable skills could properly delegate under the circumstances. The bill is pending in the House Judiciary Committee. GBA supports.	Campbell

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. Subsequent issues will be mailed on alternate Fridays except when the legislature is in recess. On Fridays that the Update is not mailed, GBA’s LegisFAX will be sent via fax to all CEO’s and those interested in tracking issues on a weekly basis. The electronic version of both the Legislative Update and the LegisFAX will be sent by e-mail to those on our e-mail list. 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’s Lobbyists at the Capitol	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 Elizabeth Way, 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 2002 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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