Legislative Update |
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March 29, 2002 A review of current developments from the Georgia Bankers Association |
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| Predatory Lending Passes House and Senate Committee | On Tuesday, the House passed the Governor’s predatory lending bill, H.B. 1361, after adopting a number of amendments. CEOs were sent a fax prior to the votes letting you know GBA’s essential concerns had been resolved in the substitute bill that had been reported by the House Banks and Banking Committee. GBA was not involved with the amendments adopted on the floor as most dealt with mortgage brokers and the provisions in the bill affecting high-cost home loans. The Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee met Thursday and reported out the version of the bill that came out of the House Banks and Banking Committee. Therefore, the bill is now void of all the amendments adopted by the House and action is expected on the Senate floor early next week. The Georgia Bankers Association has coordinated our efforts with the Community Bankers Association of Georgia. We are continuing to monitor the bill as it goes through the final stages of enactment, which will most likely require a conference committee between the House and Senate. |
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| ID Theft Bill Passes Senate |
S.B. 475 by Senators Thompson, Stokes and Tanksley was passed by the Senate this week. The bill was introduced at the request of Governor Roy Barnes and Attorney General Thurbert Baker to enhance the prosecution of criminals who steal individual’s identity. ID theft is reportedly the fastest growing consumer crime in the country. The bill contains provisions requiring all businesses that maintain records with individual’s personal identifying information to properly dispose of those records. Under the bill, financial institutions are required to comply with the provisions of the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the regulations that went into effect last July 1. The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee for further action. GBA supports the bill and has been working with the Attorney General on a series of Town Hall meetings to inform the public about the seriousness of the problem. The next Town Hall meeting is set for April 11 in Albany at 1:00 p.m. in the Albany Commission Chamber. Bankers are encouraged to attend. |
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| 3-Year Rule Passes Senate |
S.B. 532 by Senators Jackson, Tanksley, Smith, Stokes, Stephens and Golden was passed by the Senate this week and is pending in the House Banks and Banking Committee. The bill would reduce from five years to three years the time a bank had to have been continuously operating before it could be acquired. |
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| UCC 9 & UCC 5 |
H.B. 1253 by Rep. Robert Reichert (D-Macon) and others was passed by the House and has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. 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. |
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| Fraudulent Transfers |
H.B. 84 creates the Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act to update the Georgia code to conform with national standards. The bill guards against debtors who pledge assets as collateral and who then sell the collateral for less than its value. The debtors later reverse the transaction after defaulting on the loan, thereby keeping the property away from creditors. The bill is now headed to the Governor for his signature. Our thanks to Senator Michael Meyer von Bremen (D-Albany) for his handling the bill in the Senate. GBA supported. |
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| Session Winding Down | When the General Assembly returns on Monday from a two-day break, they will have six more legislative days to complete their business for the 2002 session. | |
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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. |
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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 |
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| 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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State Legislative Issues l Georgia House of Representatives l Georgia Senate l Governor |
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