The Alaska Legislature passed House Bill 85, which modernizes Alaskan laws governing the state banking industry. The bill brings regulatory parity between nationally chartered banks and state-chartered banks and increases regulatory efficiency.
Sen. Bert Stedman on the Senate floor lays out what HB 85 does:
“Some of the things this bill does, one of the things it allows the state bank to pledge bank assets as collateral security to secure funds deposited by a federally recognized tribes and health consortiums, thereby allowing our banks to compete in that environment. In fact, our little banks should be the number one in that environment, and they’re not. It provides Alaska chartered bank parity with credit unions, that’s another way that we want to level up a little bit. It requires all the banks to become a member of the FDIC. It requires the number of required meetings of a bank board’s director from 10 to once quarterly per calendar year, greatly reducing the travel cost to our banks. It’s just a lot of cleanup and leveling the playing field. I ask your support for this bill to make sure our little banks in Alaska compete against the big boys.”
Rep. Bart LeBon, who sponsored the bill, said that his bill fixed issues that he’s experienced during his 40-plus years in the banking industry. He says that House Bill 85 cleans up red-tape and helps unleash the potential of Alaska’s private sector economy.
The Alaska State Senate voted 19-0 to pass the bill. A pro forma concurrence vote was held in the House of Representatives Thursday to accept changes to the bill made in the Senate. Last May, HB 85 passed out of the House of Representatives by a 35-2 vote. The bill now goes to Gov. Dunleavy’s desk for his signature.
Transcribed audio courtesy of KTOO 360TV.
Click here for more on HB 85.