Advocacy Update 2023 - Legislative Days 5-8

Legislators Return to Chambers 
After meeting last week for budget hearings, the House and Senate returned in earnest on Monday, ticking four days off the legislative calendar.  Many standing committees met for the first time, allowing new members to introduce themselves and adopting rules that will govern committee proceedings for the balance of the two-year term. 

On Wednesday, Governor Brian Kemp delivered his annual State of the State address.  He focused on economic development projects and highlighted the need for a skilled workforce and affordable housing.  The Governor also addressed increased crime and changes to Georgia’s individual health insurance marketplace. 

Substantive committee action is expected to begin next week.  Lawmakers will be in session Monday through Thursday. ​

Bill Highlights:  H.B. 55 Department of Banking’s Housekeeping Bill 
H.B. 55 was introduced in the House by Rep. Bruce Williamson (R), Monore.  This is the Department of Banking and Finance’s Housekeeping bill.  The bill was assigned to the Banks & Banking Committee.   

The bill contains the following general clean-up provisions for supervision: a) revising references to the allowance of loan and lease losses to the allowances for credit losses to align with a change in terminology for GAAP (O.C.G.A. §§ 7-1-4(35); 7-1-659); b) updating the rules of construction that any references to laws or rules in the Financial Institutions Code will be to the laws as they existed on January 1, 2023 (O.C.G.A. § 7-1-10);  c) providing that a bank or trust company can change its name without shareholder approval to align with O.C.G.A. § 14-2-1002(8) (O.C.G.A. § 7-1-551); d) providing that credit unions have the power to enter into agency relationships which aligns with the powers for banks found in O.C.G.A. § 7-1-261(d) (O.C.G.A. § 7-1-650(16)); e) providing that credit unions can have fiscal years that do not align with a calendar year so long as expressly set forth in the credit union’s bylaws (O.C.G.A. § 7-1-661); and f) renaming “central credit union” to “corporate credit union” as that is the phrase used nationally to refer to credit unions that provide services to other credit unions (O.C.G.A. § 7-1-669).  

For a summary of substantive changes to the Housekeeping bill, click here. 

The Banks & Banking Committee has H.B. 55 on their schedule for next Wednesday, February 1st at 3PM.   ​

Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority introduces FANS  
The Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority (GSCCCA), in conjunction the Superior Court Clerks of Georgia, has developed a free, consumer-friendly process that notifies property owners any time filings are made related to their registered property. The Filing Activity Notification System (FANS) https://fans.gsccca.org/ will also notify of filing activity related to personal property, liens and plats. FANS gives citizens a much-needed tool to monitor filing activity related to their property which could help prevent deed fraud. Registration is simple in that it only requires an email address or phone number.   Click here to read the press release. 

 The next legislative update will be available on February 3