What’s happening in Montgomery?
The action this week was truly in committee where there were a number of hotly contested bills slated for hearings addressing such interesting issues as illegal immigration and taxes.

The House Judiciary Committee passed eight bills addressing illegal immigration including one that would cause businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants to lose their business licenses. Others would make it a crime to transport illegal immigrants into the state and call for the impoundment of a vehicle if the driver can't prove citizenship. A complete write-up on the immigration bills can be found in the March 7th Legislative update— http://www.alabamabankers.org/legupdates/2008/legupdate030708.html.

The House Education Appropriations Committee approved a bill to limit some corporate tax deductions for interest and royalty payments. This bill, which makes changes to the “add back” statute where state law prescribes what expenses a corporate income tax filer must add back to their Alabama taxable income, is a result of the Vanity Fair case recently ruled on by the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. It only affects corporate income tax payers— larger, multi-state companies —and does not include financial institutions. The Business Associations Tax Coalition (BATC) was represented in committee opposing the bill but to little avail. Looks like the $20 to $40 plus million this bill is designed to bring in is part of this year’s budget.

Another hotly contested tax bill in the House Government Appropriations Committee was the governor's bill to increase the tax on oil companies' natural gas wells along the Alabama coast. This bill proposed changing to a volume-based tax from the current value-based tax. This bill was defeated in committee.

On the Senate floor they finally busted through Senator Butler’s (D-Madison) filibuster of “sunset” legislation to dispense with those bills. When they return next Tuesday they will be on unfinished business which is a local gambling bill for Macon County. Senator Butler has been trying to block a proposed rock quarry in his district but the Road Builders defeated his legislation.

On the House floor they continued their efficient work and passed a number of bills.

HB 770 by Rep. Mike Ball (R-Huntsville) - This bill would establish an Individual Development Account Program, which is designed to encourage low income earners to save money for school, training, transportation etc. The program is under the Department of Agriculture which is to partner with a not-for-profit to administer. Financial institutions participating are required to provide the accounts for free and provide interest income “at a minimum.”

Bank Department Bills — HB 643 by Rep. Mike Hill (R-Columbiana), the Banking Department’s Alabama Mortgage Act, which essentially provides for the licensing and registration of mortgage brokers, and HB 642 by Rep. Mike Hill (R-Columbiana), which removes mortgage lending from the Consumer Credit Act and the Mini Code as well as alter the licensing provisions, continue to get tweaked as the Department works on issues that have arisen since their introduction. The bills were scheduled for a hearing in the House Banking and Insurance Committee on Wednesday but will be carried over for two more weeks while further adjustments are made.

***A SECTION BY SECTION SYNOPSIS ALONG WITH A COPIES OF THE BILLS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE ABA WEB SITE AT WWW.ALABAMABANKERS.ORG.***

ABA legislative package
The Alabama Bankers Association has submitted three bills for passage this session:

1. Bank Impersonation bill—HB 478 by Rep. Vance (D-Phenix City) and SB 149 by Sen. Bedford (D-Russellville) - This bill restricts the use of lender information that is publicly available including loan numbers, amounts and trade names in solicitations for services or products without the consent of the lender. Both bills are out of the banking committees in their house of origin. The House bill is scheduled to be on a consent calendar Tuesday, April 1st..
2. Lost Note bill—HB 399 by Rep. Hill (R-Columbiana) and SB 273 by Sen. Griffith (D-Huntsville) - This bill codifies a Supreme Court decision that an assignee of a creditor may enforce a lost note just as the creditor could. Both bills are out of the banking committees in their house of origin. This bill, which has been on the special order calendar several times but too far down to list to get to for passage, should come up next week in the House.
3. Commercial Property Redemption bill—HB 272 by Rep. Hill (R-Columbiana) and SB 267 by Sen. Griffith (D-Huntsville) - Currently, all property is subject to a one-year right of redemption to the owner. This bill removes that the redemption period for commercial property. The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee substituted a version of HB 338 by Rep. Ford (D-Gadsden) for Sen. Griffith’s bill this week. SB 267 now reduces the right of redemption on commercial and residential property to six months. We will now push the Griffith and Ford bills. ABA is working with Rep. Buskey and members of the Black Caucus to address their concerns.

Federal Issues
The Senate and the House of Representatives are in recess until March 31.