Pub. 4 2014-2015 Issue 2

6 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G C O L O R A D A N S R E A L I Z E D R E A M S As the summer months have heated up, CBA has been hard at work on a number of important items, including ballot issues and regulatory reform. CBA earlier this year made a significant financial contri- bution to the campaign to battle a number of anti-fracking initiatives aimed at limiting or ending the practice, and pro- viding local control to municipalities to regulate the natural gas extraction method. Following a strong showing and successful effort by the industry, Governor Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep Jared Polis, of Boulder, in early August announced a compromise resulting in harmful initiatives being pulled from the November ballot. Two pro-industry initiatives were removed as well. Initiative 88 would have required drilling rigs to be set back 2,000 feet fromhomes, while Initiative 89 would have added an environmental bill of rights to the state constitution. The pair were two of a dozen initiatives proposed, which includedmoves that could have directly impacted banks by allowing for local regulation of businesses, including banks, in each of Colorado’s political subdivision. None of those will move forward. CBA opposed all of the measures due to the potentially disastrous consequences on the state’s economy. In place of the anti-fracking initiatives, a commission will be formed to review oil and gas drilling in the state and make recommendations to the legislature. Meanwhile, CBA kept a close eye on a proposed ballot initiative aimed at foreclosure. A measure had been proposed that would require the original evidence of debt and recorded assignments. While a CBA attempt to quash the idea failed at the Colorado Supreme Court, proponents of the initiative never received the approval to begin collecting signatures. CBA has been battling and defeating harmful foreclosure measures at the legislature and on the ballot for many years, even as foreclosure rates have steadily dropped in Colorado. We will continue to keep our fingers on the pulse of the issue, to protect banks fromharmful ideas, and ensure their ability to make prudent loans to the people who need and deserve them. On that front, our work continues to accomplish regulatory reform for banks. CBA and other associations planned meet- ings with their Congressional delegations during the August recess, to encourage support and co-sponsorship of a bill that will greatly help restore credit availability to those often denied credit under new mortgage rules that went into effect in Janu- ary 2014. The bill has been championed by the ABA/Alliance Regulatory Relief Task Force, led by CBA. H.R. 2673 exempts loans the lender keeps on its books from the rigid new ATR and QM requirements. The logic is that since the bank keeps 100% of the risk, it should not be stopped from helping a customer by government policies to protect the secondary market. In short, since the bank is willing to take all the risk on the loan, let it believe in the customer and make the loan. This change greatly restores banks’ ability to lend to qualified customers hurt by the mortgage rules. Often banks believe the customers are qualified and are willing tomake the loans (and theymade such loans in the past), but recent mortgage rules restrict mortgage lending to groups who need it most: small businesses, low income individuals, newly employed or retired people and residents of rural areas. We hope for a vote on this bill sometime in September. We will keep you apprised of its progress, and that of other efforts CBA is making on your behalf. As always, do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help you! Don Childears President and CEO Colorado Bankers Association A Word from CBA... Hard at Work on Ballot and Regulatory Issues n