Bill Highlight's: H.B. 522 & S.B. 201

H.B. 522 was introduced in the House by Rep. Marvin Lim (D), Norcross, this week. The bill relates to the Department of Banking & Finance (DBF) and financial institutions and provides that community reinvestment evaluations will be conducted by the Department. The bill was assigned to the Banks & Banking committee. Information about this bill is still unfolding. The bill hasn't been to a committee hearing for explanation and advisement by the committee members. Based on the bill's current draft, CBA has concerns with the bill as drafted.  As written, the bill would require the DBF to have an entirely new examination program.  What budget considerations (salaries, office space, benefits, etc.) would the legislature give DBF to implement the new program?   Given the state of the budget, where would these funds come from?  The second concern relates to this bill leaving our state-chartered institutions at a disadvantage.  State-chartered institution would be subject to two community reinvestment act regimes instead of just one for federally-chartered institutions.  CBA plans to reach out to the sponsor of the bill to discuss the issues at hand for our community banks.  We will closely be watching the progression of this bill. 
 
S.B. 201 was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Chuck Hufstetler (R), Rome, this week. The bill relates to the Department of Revenue (DOR) and financial institutions regarding Georgia delinquent taxpayers. The bill would require financial institutions to provide certain information related to delinquent taxpayers to the DOR under certain conditions.  The bill was assigned to the Finance committee. The DOR has been in contact with CBA and other stakeholders on a draft of this bill.  DOR staff explained that this bill was to mirror a similar law related to child support data match that is federally mandated by the government. However, the DOR draft closely resembled the child support law, but without the liability protections and the lawful disclosure of information to a financial institute's client under investigation. CBA and other stakeholders suggested that DOR align this bill with the child support law by including those liability protection provisions in the bill.  Another concern relates to the payment of services to the financial institution for running the delinquent taxpayer's information and the timeframe allotted for the action.  We are continuing to work with the DOR and Rep. Hufstetler to improve this bill for community banks. 

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