TO: CEOs, Presidents &
Legislative Contacts
FROM: Charles M. Miller, SVP / Director of Legislation
& Regulation
DATE: February 20, 2009
________________________________________________________
Wednesday marked the beginning
of the “public” legislative debate on the lottery as a draft of a 50 page
lottery-structure bill was presented at a joint meeting of the Senate State
Agencies Committee and the House Rules Committee. Prior to this meeting, most of the serious
discussion on this issue had been behind closed doors between legislative
leadership, the Governor and possibly Lt. Governor Bill Halter. Halter was the
architect of the constitutional amendment allowing lotteries. The legislation will be sponsored by House
Speaker Robbie Wills, D-Conway and Senator Terry Smith, D-Hot Springs.
The bill to clarify that
Mortgage Lien Protection Insurance is not title insurance, House Bill 1410, is
only one step from becoming law. It has
passed the House and Senate and now awaits Governor Beebe’s signature.
Last week I mentioned House
Bill 1392 that would insure lien priority for first lien holders in an area to
be included in an improvement district.
After further investigation and discussions with other bankers and
developers, we understand the necessity of an improvement district securing
first position as it relates to the marketability of its bonds. Our goal is to help craft legislation that
fairly balances the rights of banks as initial lien holders and banks that will
eventually hold the improvement districts bonds. An amendment is being circulated among the
interested parties that will give additional notice to the original lien
holders and give the banks that have liens on a substantial part of the
property in question the right to object to the formation of the improvement
district. We are hopeful that after
amendment, HB 1392 will be a win – win.
House Bill 1433, which is the
Bank Department’s legislation to establish a protocol for dealing with emergencies,
is quickly moving through the process.
This week it received a do pass from the House Insurance & Commerce
Committee, passed the House and was approved by the Senate Insurance &
Commerce Committee. HB 1433 should be
considered by the full Senate early next week.
The list of bills we track is
growing everyday and I strongly encourage you to take a close look at this
list. You will notice that we have a
neutral or monitor position on several of these bills and that is because they
have some potential to affect our industry.
If anything on this list catches your eye please let me know ASAP. Remember
that the process can move very quickly.
If a banker has concern about a particular bill and does not let me know
immediately – it may be too late.