The state legislative session began this week on January 8th for the second half of the two-year cycle. What this “second half” means for credit unions is that all of the bills introduced last year that did not pass (including more than 300 that could impact the industry) are still eligible for action this year … along with the thousands of other bills that will be introduced over this 40-day session. It will be a packed year of issues; to get an idea of some of these 300 plus issues of note to credit unions that carried over, please click here.
To shape the success of the industry, throughout 2017 credit unions were actively engaged in efforts to build relationships with legislators, grow understanding, and promote what is necessary to serve members today and in the future. Also, there were more than 150 political events attended in 2017 on behalf of credit unions, with an additional 60 just last week. These were utilized to help position credit unions on a strong foot – advocacy wise – for this 2018 session … as it is anticipated to be chaotic and dicey given the election year dynamics. This equates to an environment that requires strong defense to protect negative amendments from sliding into the bills that do move forward. And while the session is just in their first few days, there have been several issues already being addressed of note for credit unions:
Real Estate Lending Issues: Early efforts to address an unintended consequence for credit unions were underway this week on SB 299 by Sen. Frank Ginn (R-Danielsville). This bill seeks to require any transaction involving the recording of real property to only be done by an attorney in good standing with the State Bar of Georgia. This bill would have the inadvertent effect of forcing any loan where the real property is collateral to go through an attorney … and, of note for many credit unions, this includes home equity loans. More work on this continues; however, Sen. Ginn was receptive to early discussions of the concerns that this would place operational burdens and more expenses on many credit unions.
Wire Transfer Fees: Rep. Jeff Jones (R-Brunswick) shared with GCUA that he intends to have a renewed legislative effort to place a fee on wire transfers; this was the issue where credit unions and others would be required to collect and remit the fees. No new wire transfer fee bill has been introduced as of press time. However, GCUA will review the language closely when it is available (as there were multiple versions last year) and continue to lobby legislators in an effort to prevent any undue compliance burdens on credit unions.
Cybersecurity: There were hearings in the off session dedicated toward crafting potential cybersecurity/data security legislation or data breach legislation that would place new notification requirements on when a breach occurs. In response to these hearings, Sen. Bruce Thompson (R-White) has introduced legislation (SB 315) to address cybersecurity in a different manner: by criminalizing the unauthorized access of computer systems. In addition, Sen. Thompson has introduced SR 570 to create a special study committee to conduct hearings on the public sale of information, something that is in reaction to the Equifax data breach. These issues will be watched closely, and GCUA has stayed in regular contact with Sen. Thompson on the issue of cybersecurity for the past two years … important as he is the chairman of the Science and Technology Committee, which would be tasked with vetting these types of bills. These are just the first few cybersecurity bills introduced in 2018, and more are anticipated.
Elder Abuse Protections/Power of Attorney Reform: GCUA has been in dialogue with Rep. Chuck Efstration (R-Dacula) as he intends to make minor changes to the power of attorney overhaul from 2017. An advance copy of what is being pursued has been shared with GCUA this week, and while the pending bill itself is to be “clean-up” in nature, it will be monitored closely to ensure that credit unions operational ability surrounding the power of attorney process is not negatively impacted. In addition, it will be shepherded through the process to protect against attempts to add greater liability to financial institutions while protecting the ability of authorities to investigate and prosecute financial elder abuse and fraud.
Tax Liens: The first hearing of note for credit unions in 2018 was in the “tax” committee in the House: Ways and Means, a committee that will be watched closely through the session due to its potential impact to credit unions. HB 661 by Rep. Bruce Williamson (R-Monroe) was introduced and quickly received a hearing in the same day on day two of the session this week, and then passed the full committee on Wednesday, January 10th. This bill is the legislative reaction to the special hearing on November 27th which “stayed” the Department of Revenue’s (DOR) proposed rules as they apply to creating an electronic database for tax liens. However, the proposed rules went much farther (applied a new step that would require a certificate of clearance on all deed transactions. HB 661 is to change the law to prevent the previous DOR rules from being proposed again later and to eliminate the need for a certificate of clearance.
State Tax Changes: Tax changes (as well as TAVT auto tax changes) have been attempted over the past several sessions, and require credit unions to consistently monitor hearings, bills and lobby legislators to protect credit unions. During the off session, there were multiple hearings on studying tax exemptions/credits and whether these credits should be continued. While none of the items studied impacted credit unions, the industry will be on guard to ensure that credit unions are not impacted by any negative attempts to hurt the industry. The topic of tax changes has been prevalent this week both privately as well as in the Governor’s public comments in speeches this week, and a bill is anticipated. Stay tuned.
Operational Improvements to Credit Union Charter: During the summer months, there was a credit union task force dedicated specifically to generate ideas for potential improvements to the credit union state law. GCUA has been closely engaged with DBF as well as the other banking trades to procure legislative improvements to reduce compliance burdens, and as of press time a bill has not been introduced, but this proactive legislation to enhance credit union operations is anticipated soon.
In addition to the above issues, there will be hundreds more, some of which carry over from last year (such as deficiency judgements, self-settled trusts, titling issues, home owner association issues and TAVT). And, more yet to be addressed on the horizon as anything can and does happen during the session, which is slated to go through possibly part of April. Stay tuned over the next few months on the state issues that could impact your credit union!
