26 Hoosier Banker May 2016 Continued from page 25. business plans and individual retirement accounts. (This issue reemerged at the end of session through the efforts of the AARP seeking the adoption of a resolution asking for a study of this approach. It also reemerged as language from the state auditor seeking to study the issue in SB 309. The IBA opposed both the resolution and the study language, which was removed.) Outcome: The bill was assigned to the House Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee. The bill failed to receive a committee hearing and died, due to legislative inaction. HB 1398 – Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (OSBE) Study and Committee Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson Bill summary: The bill establishes the Study Commission on Small Business Lending. It creates a commission with certain designated members. The bill requires the OSBE to do the following at the direction of the commission: (1) conduct a study of small business lending in Indiana; (2) identify and evaluate best practices of financial lending institutions that may help to facilitate small business lending and encourage entrepreneurial growth; (3) study the feasibility of establishing a loan loss reserve account fund for the purpose of broadening access to financing for small businesses in Indiana; (4) identify the most appropriate agency or office to administer a loan loss reserve account fund; (5) make a recommendation of an appropriation amount to a loan loss reserve account fund, taking into consideration any federal funds that may be available to the state as a result of establishing a loan loss reserve account fund; and (6) determine the fiscal impact to the state of establishing a loan loss reserve account fund. The bill requires the commission to submit a written report of the study and recommendations of the OSBE and the commission to the Legislative Council before Nov. 1, 2016. Outcome: The bill never received a committee hearing and died, due to legislative inaction. SB 12 – Financial Crimes Against the Elderly Sen. R. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis Rep. Greg Steuerwald, R-Danville Bill summary: The bill permits a financial institution to release certain financial records to a law enforcement agency or adult protective services unit if the financial institution reasonably suspects illegal activity in connection with the account, and provides immunity to a financial institution that releases, or does not release, this information. It permits a court to order a person convicted of exploitation of a dependent or endangered adult to disgorge all or some of any property the person received as the result of the death of the dependent or endangered adult. It urges the General Assembly to assign the topic of adult protective services to a study committee during the 2016 legislative interim. (The introduced version of this bill was prepared by the Study Committee on Corrections and Criminal Code.) Details: The IBA supported this legislation. This bill was filed to address a current lack of clarity in state statute related to a financial institution’s legal authority to release certain information to the appropriate authorities in circumstances where a crime of elder abuse may have been committed. Outcome: The bill was assigned to the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee after it had passed the Senate. The bill did not receive a committee hearing and died, due to legislative inaction. SB 171 – Study of Electronic Health Care Claim Payments (Insurance Payments to Providers) Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville Rep. Denny Zent, R-Angola Bill summary: This bill specifies requirements for accident and sickness insurers and health maintenance organizations related to provider claim payment by electronic funds transfer. Details: The IBA opposed this legislation. The bill was sought by the Indiana State Medical Association as a way to limit the use of virtual credit cards as a useful form of payment from insurers to providers. The bill places new restrictions for opting into the acceptance of virtual credit card payments. The bill also limits interchange fees for virtual credit cards. Outcome: The bill was heard in the Senate Insurance & Financial Institutions Committee on Jan. 14, and again on Jan. 21. The bill was amended to send the issue to a study committee this summer. Ultimately the House Insurance Committee did not to hear the legislation after it was decided that a better approach would be to have the Department of Insurance issue a bulletin educating those in the marketplace on virtual credit cards. SB 204 – Foreclosed and Abandoned Property (Tax Sales and Foreclosed Property) Sen. Jim Merritt, R-Indianapolis Rep. John Price, R-Greenwood Bill summary: Interest rate: For purposes of the statutes concerning real property sold for delinquent taxes and special assessments, this bill provides that the interest rate to be paid for redeemed property is the adjusted interest rate used for refunds of state income taxes. Mortgage foreclosure: The bill provides that the statute concerning foreclosure prevention agreements does not apply to a mortgage servicer subject to certain federal regulations adopted under the federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). Foreclosure mischief: This bill provides that a person who recklessly, knowingly or intentionally damages or defaces property that is the subject of a mortgage foreclosure proceeding commits foreclosure mischief, a Class A misdemeanor. Criminal trespass: The bill also amends the statute concerning criminal trespass to specify that a person commits criminal trespass if the person knowingly or intentionally enters or refuses to leave the property of another person after having been prohibited from entering or asked to leave the property by a law enforcement officer when the property is: (1) vacant real property or a vacant structure (both as defined by the statute concerning the abatement of vacant structures and abandoned structures); or (2) designated by a municipality or county enforcement authority to be abandoned property or an abandoned structure. (Current law does not specify that the property does not have to be designated as vacant by a municipality or county enforcement authority for purposes of the offense.) Outcome: The bill passed the Senate and was assigned to the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee. The bill died due to the volume of bills sent to the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee and the small window of time available to move legislation.
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