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The 2008 Legislative Session is Underway!

On Wednesday evening, Governor Manchin delivered his fourth State of the State address. The Governor reviewed the significant progress the State has made over the past three years, and outlined several key programs and initiatives. The Governor did not directly address banks or banking issues in his remarks.

Here is a link to a site with the complete text of the Governor’s State of the State address: http://www.wv.gov/Offsite.aspx?u=http://www.state.wv.us/governor

Most media reports on the Governor’s address focused on the Governor’s proposals regarding teacher pay raises, and economic and workforce development initiatives.

The Governor's budget includes a 3 percent pay raise for teachers, and an additional $400 across-the-board pay hike for classroom teachers. The Governor also mentioned a plan to allow school districts to offer signing bonuses to teachers who teach in academic areas of critical need.

Governor Manchin unveiled a “Bucks for Jobs” program, modeled after a plan in Kentucky that he believes will stimulate economic growth. The plan consists of three elements:

1. A one-time, $50 million investment from the state’s budget surplus to stimulate research and development at WVU and Marshall, to be matched by private contributions in a like amount;
2. A “Training Bucks” program that will tie together numerous federal and state workforce training programs; and
3. A large investment in two state-of-the-art, advanced technical centers.

The Governor also indicated that he would be advancing additional tax reduction proposals in the 2008 Session, but no details were announced. Observers believe that the Governor intends to accelerate the existing, phased reduction of the business franchise tax over the next five years, so that the tax is completely eliminated at the end of 2012.

A key issue of interest to banks this year are amendments to last year’s SB 749, which inadvertently eliminated longstanding provisions of law regarding taxation of banks. The Administration and legislative leaders have committed to restore prior law regarding bank taxation during the 2008 session.

Several issues unrelated to the interest of banks in the revision to the se so – called “combined reporting” provisions of SB 749 are being finalized by the Administration and interested parties. Your Association will be keeping a close watch on this bill as it is introduced and advances.

The AARP has plans to introduce a notice of security breach bill that is of concern to banks and others. We will be actively working on this bill during the session.

The American Payroll Association has plans to introduce a pay card bill in this session. At this time, we are attempting to obtain a copy of this bill from the APA (the bill has not yet been introduced). Your Association will determine its position on the bill once we are able to obtain and review the text of the bill.

Your Association will be watching closely HB 4007 a predatory lending bill which was introduced on January 9. Although the bill includes language that purportedly exempts “consumer loans made on site at a depository institution,” Your Association is concerned that the exemption is too vague and may not withstand a challenge by other types of lenders. We are also aware that consumer advocates will be pushing legislation that would rewrite the West Virginia foreclosure statute and will aggressively tracking this legislation to protect the interests of the banking industry.

We are working on several modernizing amendments to provisions in West Virginia’s statutes regarding CDARS and public deposits, to provide greater flexibility with regard to bonding and other requirements regarding public deposits. Once a bill is finalized, we will seek sponsors for the bill.

As of Friday, a total of 252 bills have been introduced in the 2008 Regular Session. Over 600 House Bills were carried over from the 2007 session, and are ripe for consideration during the 2008 session. Below is a brief listing of bills of interest to bankers:

Senate Bills

 

House Bills

Bill	Title	Status
HB 4007	Relating to the prevention of predatory lending practices	Referred to House Banking & Insurance then Judiciary
HB 2034	Prohibiting the use of a credit score in casualty insurance rate filings	Referred House Banking & Insurance then Judiciary
HB 2039	Prohibiting mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer loan agreements by regulated consumer lenders in the state	Referred House Judiciary
HB 2164	Relating to requiring lien holders to notify the sheriff's office via written instrument and to record a release in the county clerk's office within sixty days after the lien has been satisfied.	Referred House Judiciary
HB 2167	Prohibiting the use of a person's credit history in insurance transactions	Referred House Banking & Insurance then Judiciary
HB 2168	Relating to credit card solicitation on college campuses	Referred House Judiciary
HB 2175	Relating to the unauthorized acquisition of data that compromises the security, confidentiality, or integrity of personal information maintained by the data collector	Referred House Judiciary
HB 2237	Relating to the use of checks, bank account debit authorizations, or share drafts as security for loans or cash advances	Referred House Banking & Insurance then Judiciary
HB 2404	Relating to authorizing the police to impound a motor vehicle and auction it to the highest bidder when the owner has been convicted of driving with no insurance three or more times	Referred House Banking & Insurance then Judiciary
HB 2501	Enabling a consumer to direct a consumer reporting agency to place a ""security freeze"" on his or her credit report	Referred House Banking & Insurance then Judiciary
HB 2517	Providing that the Board of Banking and Financial Institutions have the authority to approve acquisitions of out-of-state banks by WV state banks	Referred House Banking & Insurance then Finance
HB 2705	Establishing a procedure whereby a consumer may implement a security freeze to prohibit a consumer reporting agency from releasing all or any part of the consumer's credit report	Referred House Judiciary
HB 2807	Relating to state purchasing cards	Referred House Gov. Organization then Finance
HB 2880	Prohibiting inquiries reflected on a credit report from adversely affecting an application for insurance	Referred House Banking & Insurance then Judiciary
HB 3061	Prohibiting the use of credit scoring as a consideration in calculating insurance rates in homeowners or automobile liability policies	Referred House Banking & Insurance then Judiciary
HB 4018	Renewing the West Virginia Small Business Linked Deposit Program	Referred House Industry, Labor, Economic Development & Small Business, then Finance
HB 4032	Relating to payment of wages through a direct deposit system	Referred House Industry, Labor, Economic Development & Small Business, then Finance