Florida Banking September 2021

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

2022 SESSION IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER

BY ANTHONY DIMARCO, FBA EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

D o you have your New Year’s Day plans yet? There are only 150 days left in 2021 (on the day I write this column). Be sure to begin your Christmas shopping soon, because Christmas is a week earlier. The holidays are not the point of this column; the start of the 2022 Session on January 11 is the point. Committee meetings will begin even earlier, starting at the end of September. To this end, legislators have already begun filing bills for the Session.

from our members. You know best since you are in the trenches every day. Not only do we push to pass legislation, we must also fight off or amend other bills. We expect that the credit unions will once again file their public deposits bill. We also expect that the consumer data privacy bill from last Session will return. PACE should also have a return engagement. We expect we will work again with the stakeholders on property insurance dealing with roof repairs as well. Then there are always bills we do not expect, such as last year’s data privacy bill. We will not know these bills until they are filed. That could be as late as the day Session begins. Capitol Day will take place on January 19 in Tallahassee. The day will start with our final GRC meeting. We will then have a lunch speaker and go to the Capitol to lobby for our issues and to hear from more Florida political leaders. Afterwards, we will return to the FBA headquarters to enjoy fellowship and dinner. Please watch for more details as we get closer to the event. As always, you are critical to the FBA’s success. You send us legislative and regulatory concerns. You answer our Calls to Action to help push or stop legislation. Also, through your involvement in the community, you know legislators and can reach out to them about legislation. Attending our lunches, dinners, Capitol Day and the DC trip are also critically important to our mission. Simply put, we could not do this without your involvement and help. We are counting on you!

The FBA is also beginning to set its legislative priorities for the upcoming Session. The first step is our Bank Attorney Conference which will be held in August. At this meeting, we will hear from attorneys who represent banks as we discuss ideas that may turn into bills for this Session. The next step is for the FBA Government Relations Council (GRC) to discuss these legislative and regulatory issues with the FBA Board, and make recommendations

NOT ONLY DO WE PUSH TO PASS LEGISLATION, WE MUST ALSO

FIGHT OFF OR AMEND OTHER BILLS.

to the board on how to proceed. The GRC is comprised of 60 banks of differing sizes from around Florida. The members discuss these issues in great detail on both the state and federal levels, then take their recommendations to the FBA Board for final approval. The GRC will meet in October and November for these discussions. We also want to hear from you. Please contact Kenneth or me to discuss any state legislative or regulatory issues you have. We will take these to the GRC for discussion. Most of our legislative issues come

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